New Orleans, LA's night sky, measured from orbit

New Orleans reads as rural on this dataset's scale. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. Only 9.3% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than New Orleans.

Note the source: a satellite reading of upward light, not a visual Bortle scale reading. The two measure related but different things.

Where to go for a darker sky near New Orleans

The closest place in this dataset with a meaningfully darker sky is Saraland, AL, roughly 122 miles away in a straight line, rated dark sky. Road distance will be more.

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

How New Orleans compares nationally

New Orleans, LA has a population of about 362,701, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. New Orleans places 298 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.