What the night sky looks like over San Mateo, CA

Satellite radiance puts San Mateo in the suburban band. Light dome dominates much of the sky. Only the brightest stars and planets stand out clearly. That's brighter than 67.1% of the 3,206 US 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.

The nearest darker sky to San Mateo

3 miles from San Mateo, straight-line, sits Hillsborough, CA, the nearest city here with a darker sky than San Mateo's own suburban band.

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

San Mateo against the rest of the dataset

San Mateo, CA counts roughly 103,006 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Among all 3,206 cities here, San Mateo ranks 2,140 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.