Gonzales, LA Night Sky Brightness
Gonzales, LA's night sky, measured from orbit
Gonzales reads as urban on this dataset's scale. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. Only 91.1% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Gonzales.
Note the source: a satellite reading of upward light, not a visual Bortle scale reading. The two measure related but different things, explained in the Bortle scale guide.
Where to go for a darker sky near Gonzales
Baton Rouge, LA, about 20 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the suburban band, one step darker than Gonzales. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.
Baton Rouge, LA is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
How Gonzales compares nationally
Gonzales, LA counts roughly 13,837 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Gonzales's position, 2,903 of 3,206, darkest to brightest, comes from the sampling method the methodology guide sets out.