Joplin, MO Night Sky Brightness
Joplin, MO: how dark is the sky here?
Joplin 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 75.7% of the 3,206 US cities in this dataset.
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 - see the Bortle scale guide for where they can disagree.
The nearest darker sky to Joplin
11 miles from Joplin, straight-line, sits Carthage, MO, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Joplin's own suburban band.
Carthage, MO is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
How Joplin compares nationally
Joplin, MO has a population of about 53,605, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Joplin places 2,413 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order, ranked by the method in the methodology guide.