Palmdale, CA: how dark is the sky here?

Palmdale reads as suburban edge on this dataset's scale. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. Only 39.5% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Palmdale.

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.

Where to go for a darker sky near Palmdale

The closest place in this dataset with a meaningfully darker sky is Sierra Madre, CA, roughly 29 miles away in a straight line, rated rural. Road distance will be more.

Sierra Madre, 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 Palmdale compares nationally

Palmdale, CA counts roughly 162,536 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Palmdale places 1,260 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.