What the night sky looks like over Salisbury, NC

Salisbury 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. Salisbury's sky is brighter than 34.7% of the 3,206 cities in this dataset.

The number comes from orbit, not a stargazer's logbook, so treat it as an estimate of sky glow rather than a certified Bortle class.

How far Salisbury is from a meaningfully darker sky

Lexington, NC, about 15 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Salisbury. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

Salisbury against the rest of the dataset

About 36,579 people live in Salisbury, NC, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Among all 3,206 cities here, Salisbury ranks 1,108 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.