National City, CA: how dark is the sky here?

Satellite radiance puts National City in the urban band. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. That's brighter than 94.2% 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 National City is from a meaningfully darker sky

3 miles from National City, straight-line, sits Coronado, CA, the nearest city here with a darker sky than National City's own urban band.

Coronado, 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 National City compares nationally

National City, CA counts roughly 58,460 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. National City places 3,003 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.