Kent, WA's night sky, measured from orbit

Satellite radiance puts Kent in the suburban edge band. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. Kent's sky is brighter than 42% of the 3,206 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 Kent is from a meaningfully darker sky

Mercer Island, WA, about 12 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Kent. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

How Kent compares nationally

About 136,588 people live in Kent, WA, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Kent places 1,339 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.