York, PA's night sky, measured from orbit

York's sky measures urban here. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. Only 87.8% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than York.

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

How far York is from a meaningfully darker sky

Columbia, PA, about 13 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the suburban edge band, one step darker than York. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

Columbia, 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 York compares nationally

York, PA counts roughly 45,241 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. York places 2,798 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.