How dark is the sky in New York, NY?

New York's sky measures urban here. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. That's brighter than 96.7% 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.

Where to go for a darker sky near New York

Edgewater, NJ, about 11 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the suburban band, one step darker than New York. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

New York against the rest of the dataset

New York, NY has a population of about 8,478,072, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Among all 3,206 cities here, New York ranks 3,083 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.