How dark is the sky in Sacramento, CA?

Sacramento's sky measures urban here. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. Sacramento's sky is brighter than 94.2% of the 3,206 cities in this dataset.

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.

The nearest darker sky to Sacramento

4 miles from Sacramento, straight-line, sits West Sacramento, CA, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Sacramento's own urban band.

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

Sacramento against the rest of the dataset

Sacramento, CA has a population of about 535,798, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Among all 3,206 cities here, Sacramento ranks 3,004 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.