Madera, CA: how dark is the sky here?

Madera's sky measures suburban edge here. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. That's brighter than 32.9% 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.

How far Madera is from a meaningfully darker sky

Coalinga, CA, about 59 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Madera. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

How Madera compares nationally

Madera, CA counts roughly 69,094 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Madera places 1,050 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.