Santa Cruz, CA Night Sky Brightness
Santa Cruz, CA's night sky, measured from orbit
Santa Cruz 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. That's brighter than 38.2% 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, explained in the Bortle scale guide.
Where to go for a darker sky near Santa Cruz
The closest place in this dataset with a meaningfully darker sky is Saratoga, CA, roughly 20 miles away in a straight line, rated rural. Road distance will be more.
Saratoga, CA is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
How Santa Cruz compares nationally
Santa Cruz, CA counts roughly 62,581 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Santa Cruz's position, 1,217 of 3,206, darkest to brightest, comes from the sampling method the methodology guide sets out.