Fort Mill, SC's night sky, measured from orbit

Fort Mill's sky measures suburban here. Light dome dominates much of the sky. Only the brightest stars and planets stand out clearly. Only 61.4% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Fort Mill.

Note the source: a satellite reading of upward light, not a visual Bortle scale reading. The two measure related but different things.

How far Fort Mill is from a meaningfully darker sky

Tega Cay, SC, about 5 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Fort Mill. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

Tega Cay, SC is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.

How Fort Mill compares nationally

Fort Mill, SC has a population of about 36,244, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Fort Mill places 1,959 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.