How dark is the sky in White Bear Lake, MN?

Satellite radiance puts White Bear Lake 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. White Bear Lake's sky is brighter than 14.1% of the 3,206 cities in this dataset.

Worth remembering: this is satellite radiance, not a ground observation. A true Bortle rating needs a human eye at night, this is the closest large-scale substitute.

How far White Bear Lake is from a meaningfully darker sky

Vadnais Heights, MN, about 3 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than White Bear Lake. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

White Bear Lake against the rest of the dataset

White Bear Lake, MN has a population of about 23,479, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Among all 3,206 cities here, White Bear Lake ranks 450 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.