State College, PA's night sky, measured from orbit

State College reads as urban on this dataset's scale. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. Only 93.5% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than State College.

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

The nearest darker sky to State College

53 miles from State College, straight-line, sits Williamsport, PA, the nearest city here with a darker sky than State College's own urban band.

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

How State College compares nationally

State College, PA counts roughly 41,228 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. State College places 2,980 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.