Salem, MA Night Sky Brightness
Salem, MA's night sky, measured from orbit
Salem 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 18.5% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Salem.
Note the source: a satellite reading of upward light, not a visual Bortle scale reading. The two measure related but different things, explained in the Bortle scale guide.
How far Salem is from a meaningfully darker sky
Peabody, MA, about 4 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Salem. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.
Peabody, MA is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
How Salem compares nationally
Salem, MA counts roughly 45,677 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Salem's position, 592 of 3,206, darkest to brightest, comes from the sampling method the methodology guide sets out.