Portland, TX's night sky, measured from orbit

Portland 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 38.6% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Portland.

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

How far Portland is from a meaningfully darker sky

142 miles from Portland, straight-line, sits Helotes, TX, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Portland's own suburban edge band.

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

How Portland compares nationally

Portland, TX counts roughly 20,725 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Portland places 1,230 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.