Portland, OR Night Sky Brightness
How dark is the sky in Portland, OR?
Portland reads as suburban on this dataset's scale. Light dome dominates much of the sky. Only the brightest stars and planets stand out clearly. Only 70.8% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Portland.
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, covered fully in the Bortle scale guide.
Where to go for a darker sky near Portland
Milwaukie, OR, about 7 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the suburban edge band, one step darker than Portland. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.
Milwaukie, OR is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
Portland against the rest of the dataset
About 635,749 people live in Portland, OR, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Ranked against the other 3,206 cities here by the methodology guide's own sampling, Portland comes in at 2,256, darkest to brightest.