Lake Forest, IL Night Sky Brightness
Lake Forest, IL's night sky, measured from orbit
Lake Forest reads as suburban edge on this dataset's scale. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. Only 13.5% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Lake Forest.
Note the source: a satellite reading of upward light, not a visual Bortle scale reading. The two measure related but different things, explained in the Bortle scale guide.
How far Lake Forest is from a meaningfully darker sky
14 miles from Lake Forest, straight-line, sits Beach Park, IL, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Lake Forest's own suburban edge band.
Beach Park, IL is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
How Lake Forest compares nationally
Lake Forest, IL has a population of about 19,642, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Lake Forest's position, 430 of 3,206, darkest to brightest, comes from the sampling method the methodology guide sets out.