Troy, MI: how dark is the sky here?

Satellite radiance puts Troy in the suburban edge band. 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 28.7% 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 Troy is from a meaningfully darker sky

Oregon, OH, about 66 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Troy. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

How Troy compares nationally

Troy, MI has a population of about 89,209, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Troy places 917 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.