Portsmouth, VA: how dark is the sky here?

Portsmouth 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. Portsmouth's sky is brighter than 26% of the 3,206 cities in this dataset.

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.

How far Portsmouth is from a meaningfully darker sky

13 miles from Portsmouth, straight-line, sits Chesapeake, VA, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Portsmouth's own suburban edge band.

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

How Portsmouth compares nationally

About 96,482 people live in Portsmouth, VA, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Portsmouth places 831 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.