San Marcos, TX's night sky, measured from orbit

San Marcos's sky measures suburban here. Light dome dominates much of the sky. Only the brightest stars and planets stand out clearly. That's brighter than 73.5% of the 3,206 US cities in this dataset.

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

How far San Marcos is from a meaningfully darker sky

9 miles from San Marcos, straight-line, sits Kyle, TX, the nearest city here with a darker sky than San Marcos's own suburban band.

Kyle, 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 San Marcos compares nationally

San Marcos, TX counts roughly 74,316 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. San Marcos places 2,342 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.