Menlo Park, CA: how dark is the sky here?

Menlo Park's sky measures suburban here. Light dome dominates much of the sky. Only the brightest stars and planets stand out clearly. That's brighter than 73.5% 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.

The nearest darker sky to Menlo Park

Redwood City, CA, about 4 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Menlo Park. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

Redwood City, 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 Menlo Park compares nationally

Menlo Park, CA counts roughly 33,040 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Menlo Park places 2,345 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.