Grand Rapids, MI: how dark is the sky here?

Satellite radiance puts Grand Rapids in the suburban band. Light dome dominates much of the sky. Only the brightest stars and planets stand out clearly. Only 78.8% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Grand Rapids.

This comes from a satellite measuring light radiating upward, not a person's eyes on the ground, so it isn't the same as a Bortle class, though the two track each other closely.

How far Grand Rapids is from a meaningfully darker sky

East Grand Rapids, MI, about 3 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the suburban edge band, one step darker than Grand Rapids. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

East Grand Rapids, MI 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 Rapids compares nationally

Grand Rapids, MI has a population of about 200,117, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Grand Rapids places 2,513 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.