Pacifica, CA's night sky, measured from orbit

Pacifica 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. That's brighter than 2.9% of the 3,206 US cities in this dataset.

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

How far Pacifica is from a meaningfully darker sky

Avenal, CA, about 170 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the dark sky band, one step darker than Pacifica. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

Avenal, 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 Pacifica compares nationally

About 37,056 people live in Pacifica, CA, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Pacifica places 93 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.