Stargaze Atlas

Massachusetts dark-sky map — light pollution by town

171 towns rated · darkest: Carver · measured from VIIRS 2024 satellite night-lights

Massachusetts has 171 towns rated for light pollution here, from its darkest — Carver (Bortle 4) — to its brightest city cores. 7 rate as genuinely dark or rural sky (Bortle 4 or better). Sort the table by darkness to find the best stargazing near you, then open any town for its exact rating, what you can see, the nearest darker skies to drive to, and tonight's live Moon, cloud, and aurora conditions. Ratings are a VIIRS satellite proxy for planning, not survey-grade sky-brightness readings.

Statewide Massachusetts · VIIRS 2024
Towns rated
171

7 rate as genuinely dark or rural sky (about Bortle 4 or better).

Darkest town
Carver
Genuinely dark towns
7

All Massachusetts towns by darkness

Darkest sky first. Click a column heading to sort, or filter by name. A satellite reading, not a survey-grade measurement — and the real dark skies are usually a short drive out of any town.

Massachusetts towns, darkest sky first.
Sky
Carver 4 Rural / suburban transition 1.9
Rehoboth 4 Rural / suburban transition 2.0
Yarmouth 4 Rural / suburban transition 2.0
Mashpee 4 Rural / suburban transition 2.7
Barnstable 4 Rural / suburban transition 2.8
Duxbury 4 Rural / suburban transition 2.8
Westford 4 Rural / suburban transition 2.9
Head of Westport 5 Suburban sky 3.2
Norwell 5 Suburban sky 3.2
Harwich 5 Suburban sky 3.8
Hull 5 Suburban sky 3.8
Acton 5 Suburban sky 3.9
Amherst 5 Suburban sky 3.9
Easton 5 Suburban sky 3.9
Sudbury 5 Suburban sky 4.1
Weston 5 Suburban sky 4.1
Charlton 5 Suburban sky 4.8
Hanson 5 Suburban sky 4.9
Kingston 5 Suburban sky 4.9
Northbridge 5 Suburban sky 4.9
Beverly Cove 5 Suburban sky 5.0
Medway 5 Suburban sky 5.0
Grafton 5 Suburban sky 5.1
Somerset 5 Suburban sky 5.1
Holliston 5 Suburban sky 5.2
Norfolk 5 Suburban sky 5.2
Chelmsford 5 Suburban sky 5.8
Longmeadow 5 Suburban sky 5.8
Wayland 5 Suburban sky 5.8
North Reading 5 Suburban sky 6.1
Lynnfield 5 Suburban sky 6.3
Westwood 5 Suburban sky 6.3
Dudley 5 Suburban sky 6.4
Leicester 5 Suburban sky 6.6
South Yarmouth 5 Suburban sky 6.9
Tyngsboro 5 Suburban sky 6.9
Swansea 5 Suburban sky 7.2
Raynham 5 Suburban sky 7.4
Concord 5 Suburban sky 7.6
Palmer 5 Suburban sky 7.7
Agawam 6 Bright suburban sky 8.0
Uxbridge 6 Bright suburban sky 8.0
Northampton 6 Bright suburban sky 8.1
Milton 6 Bright suburban sky 8.7
Newton 6 Bright suburban sky 8.7
Abington 6 Bright suburban sky 8.9
Acushnet 6 Bright suburban sky 9.0
South Hadley 6 Bright suburban sky 9.1
Natick 6 Bright suburban sky 9.6
Wrentham 6 Bright suburban sky 9.9
Marblehead 6 Bright suburban sky 10
Weymouth 6 Bright suburban sky 10
East Bridgewater 6 Bright suburban sky 11
Hanover 6 Bright suburban sky 11
Holden 6 Bright suburban sky 11
Easthampton 6 Bright suburban sky 11
South Peabody 6 Bright suburban sky 11
Wilmington 6 Bright suburban sky 11
Danvers 6 Bright suburban sky 12
Maynard 6 Bright suburban sky 12
Amherst Center 6 Bright suburban sky 12
Norton 6 Bright suburban sky 12
Swampscott 6 Bright suburban sky 12
Tewksbury 6 Bright suburban sky 12
Gardner 6 Bright suburban sky 13
Shrewsbury 6 Bright suburban sky 13
Ashland 6 Bright suburban sky 13
Auburn 6 Bright suburban sky 13
Millbury 6 Bright suburban sky 14
Saugus 6 Bright suburban sky 14
Bedford 6 Bright suburban sky 14
Whitman 6 Bright suburban sky 14
Fairhaven 6 Bright suburban sky 14
Holbrook 6 Bright suburban sky 14
Lexington 6 Bright suburban sky 14
Winthrop 6 Bright suburban sky 14
Greenfield 6 Bright suburban sky 15
North Andover 6 Bright suburban sky 15
Wellesley 6 Bright suburban sky 15
Amesbury 6 Bright suburban sky 15
Stoughton 6 Bright suburban sky 15
East Longmeadow 6 Bright suburban sky 15
Franklin 6 Bright suburban sky 15
North Chicopee 6 Bright suburban sky 15
Methuen 6 Bright suburban sky 15
Rockland 6 Bright suburban sky 15
Dedham 6 Bright suburban sky 15
Dracut 6 Bright suburban sky 16
Newburyport 6 Bright suburban sky 16
Webster 6 Bright suburban sky 16
North Attleborough Center 6 Bright suburban sky 16
Newtonville 6 Bright suburban sky 16
Southbridge 6 Bright suburban sky 16
West Roxbury 6 Bright suburban sky 16
Billerica 6 Bright suburban sky 16
Needham 6 Bright suburban sky 17
Winchester 6 Bright suburban sky 17
Canton 6 Bright suburban sky 17
Fitchburg 6 Bright suburban sky 17
Stoneham 6 Bright suburban sky 17
Belmont 6 Bright suburban sky 17
Marlborough 6 Bright suburban sky 17
Randolph 6 Bright suburban sky 18
Hudson 6 Bright suburban sky 18
Woburn 6 Bright suburban sky 18
Arlington 6 Bright suburban sky 19
Burlington 6 Bright suburban sky 19
Middleborough 6 Bright suburban sky 19
Melrose 6 Bright suburban sky 20
North Adams 7 Suburban / urban transition 21
Milford 7 Suburban / urban transition 21
Framingham Center 7 Suburban / urban transition 21
Ludlow 7 Suburban / urban transition 21
Gloucester 7 Suburban / urban transition 21
Reading 7 Suburban / urban transition 22
Chicopee 7 Suburban / urban transition 25
Mansfield 7 Suburban / urban transition 25
Suffolk Downs Station 7 Suburban / urban transition 25
Chestnut Hill 7 Suburban / urban transition 26
Beverly 7 Suburban / urban transition 26
Roslindale 7 Suburban / urban transition 26
Wakefield 7 Suburban / urban transition 27
Leominster 7 Suburban / urban transition 27
Pittsfield 7 Suburban / urban transition 27
Watertown 7 Suburban / urban transition 29
Attleboro 7 Suburban / urban transition 29
Braintree 7 Suburban / urban transition 29
Westfield 7 Suburban / urban transition 30
Orient Heights 7 Suburban / urban transition 30
Brighton 7 Suburban / urban transition 30
Hyannis 7 Suburban / urban transition 31
Hyde Park 7 Suburban / urban transition 31
Norwood 7 Suburban / urban transition 32
Salem 7 Suburban / urban transition 32
Haverhill 7 Suburban / urban transition 34
Taunton 7 Suburban / urban transition 34
Holyoke 7 Suburban / urban transition 34
Ashmont 7 Suburban / urban transition 34
Brookline 7 Suburban / urban transition 35
West Springfield 7 Suburban / urban transition 35
Mattapan 7 Suburban / urban transition 37
Winter Hill 7 Suburban / urban transition 37
Framingham 7 Suburban / urban transition 37
Lowell 7 Suburban / urban transition 38
Peabody 7 Suburban / urban transition 38
Seekonk 7 Suburban / urban transition 40
Medford 8 City sky 41
Dorchester 8 City sky 41
Somerville 8 City sky 42
Cambridge 8 City sky 43
Waltham 8 City sky 43
Revere 8 City sky 48
New Bedford 8 City sky 50
Malden 8 City sky 50
Brockton 8 City sky 51
Allston 8 City sky 59
Mission Hill 8 City sky 59
Fall River 8 City sky 60
Quincy 8 City sky 62
Everett 8 City sky 62
East Boston 8 City sky 63
Lawrence 8 City sky 66
Lynn 8 City sky 67
East Cambridge 8 City sky 68
Roxbury Crossing 8 City sky 76
Chelsea 8 City sky 86
Charlestown 8 City sky 91
Worcester 9 Inner-city sky 108
Back Bay 9 Inner-city sky 113
Springfield 9 Inner-city sky 118
Boston 9 Inner-city sky 158

Frequently asked questions

Where are the darkest skies in Massachusetts?
The darkest town tracked here is Carver. Sort the table on this page by darkness to see the full ranking, from the most rural, star-filled skies down to the brightest city cores.
How many dark-sky towns does Massachusetts have?
Of 171 towns rated here, 7 rate as genuinely dark or rural sky (about Bortle 4 or better) — good for seeing the Milky Way on a clear, moonless night.
How are these light-pollution ratings measured?
From VIIRS 2024 annual-average satellite night-lights, sampled at each town's center and mapped to a darkness class and an estimated Bortle band. It is a satellite upward-radiance proxy for planning, not a survey-grade sky-brightness reading. See the methodology page for details.

Explore

Learn to read the Bortle scale, check the meteor shower calendar, or search all towns from the home page.