How dark is the sky in Madison, WI?

Madison's sky measures rural here. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. That's brighter than 10.4% of the 3,206 US cities in this dataset.

Worth remembering: this is satellite radiance, not a ground observation. A true Bortle rating needs a human eye at night, this is the closest large-scale substitute.

The nearest darker sky to Madison

Windsor, WI, about 13 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the dark sky band, one step darker than Madison. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

Madison against the rest of the dataset

Madison, WI counts roughly 285,300 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Among all 3,206 cities here, Madison ranks 334 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.