I took a photo(s) of the Milky Way last year in a Bortle 9 suburban area last fall. I'm not happy with the final result, as I didnt plan the shot at all, so I'll be redoing it next time theres a good night for it.

I took about 90 frames using the ETTR method where you expose your image such that the histogram is as close to the right edge as possible without clipping data. If you use a program like photoshop, sequator, starry landscape stacker, or deep sky stacker to then align your frames and stack, you'll reduce a lot of the noise collected and as such the real features of the milky way and core will be a bit more prominent. After that. Contrast adjustments, and adjusting individual channels to reduce light pollution helps.

Suggest checking out the Lonely Speck YouTube channel or their website to learn more.

But it's possible. A lot of astrophotography setup their telescopes and take deep sky images in their back yard in relatively light polluted areas too.