Grand Forks, ND's night sky, measured from orbit

Grand Forks reads as suburban on this dataset's scale. Light dome dominates much of the sky. Only the brightest stars and planets stand out clearly. That's brighter than 85.3% of the 3,206 US cities in this dataset.

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

How far Grand Forks is from a meaningfully darker sky

Jamestown, ND, about 103 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the suburban edge band, one step darker than Grand Forks. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

How Grand Forks compares nationally

Grand Forks, ND has a population of about 59,845, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Grand Forks places 2,720 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.