Smithfield, NC: how dark is the sky here?

Smithfield's sky measures suburban edge here. 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 23.5% of the 3,206 US cities in this dataset.

This comes from a satellite measuring light radiating upward, not a person's eyes on the ground, so it isn't the same as a Bortle class, though the two track each other closely.

How far Smithfield is from a meaningfully darker sky

Clayton, NC, about 11 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Smithfield. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

How Smithfield compares nationally

Smithfield, NC has a population of about 12,806, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Smithfield places 749 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.