Iowa City, IA: how dark is the sky here?

Satellite radiance puts Iowa City in the urban band. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. Only 94.7% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Iowa City.

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.

Where to go for a darker sky near Iowa City

Coralville, IA, about 5 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the suburban edge band, one step darker than Iowa City. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

How Iowa City compares nationally

Iowa City, IA counts roughly 76,710 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Iowa City places 3,019 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.