One of the most important aspects when it comes to Cities: Skylines is knowing how to make money. In Cities: Skylines, the process of expanding and developing your city depends on money. If you don’t have the necessary funds available, your city won’t be able to grow properly.
So, what’s the best way to make money and manage money in Cities: Skylines?
The first step when it comes to making money in Cities: Skylines is managing your ambition. Don’t try to rapidly build your city up right from the start, as this is the best way to deplete your resources. For example, building roads. Every time you build a road, you spend money. With this in mind, start small. A smaller, self-contained city will help you attract residents and keep them there, thus helping you make money.
Balance Your Zoning
Another component to making money in Cities: Skylines is zoning. Proper zoning is the key to a successful city. As such, you’ll want to balance your residential and commercial zoning properly. For example, don’t overcrowd your residential areas with business. Citizens won’t want to live in a busy commercial area.
Meanwhile, give your commercial areas a decent amount of space. If they get too clustered together, you can affect the flow of goods. When building a downtown area, you can mix the two together in some respects. Having groceries and shopping in the vicinity of your residential downtown areas is wonderful for convenience.
One way to ensure the ease of movement necessary for freeing up roads and making your residents happy is by building bridges and properly implementing public transport, so citizens from your residential areas can easily travel downtown, and roads are open for delivery trucks.
By keeping this in mind, you’ll be able to make more money off your residents and keep your residents happy at the same time.
Investment Minimalism
However, that doesn’t mean you have to focus all of your resources on creating top-notch infrastructure and services for your residents. Just like in real life, a helpful way to make more money for your city is by practicing shady city management tactics at the expense of your citizens.
Tinker with how much money you pour into things like utilities or law enforcement, and make sure to check and see how much things like utilities are being utilized. Once you find the lowest level you can invest at without angering your citizens, stick with it for a while. It frees up a good deal of funds, and it’s something you can continue to practice as you do expand your city.
The well-balanced city will also help you take care of some of these services itself. For example, plenty of employment opportunities that good commercial and residential zoning provides results in lower crime rates, which means you put don’t have to pour as much money into police work. It also helps boost the city’s economy and eventually helps ensure you have a wider range of higher paying jobs available for residents.
Another option to consider for boosting your industry without having to worry about pollution and pushing people out is to focus on things like forestry or farming until you believe you have enough income and management experience to expand into other areas without harming your progress overall.
Handling Taxes
Handling taxes in Cities: Skylines can be complex at first, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to better handle your money. Not to mention make even more money! When you start the game, the tax level will be set relatively low. You’ll want to keep your taxes low until your city expands. The more your city expands, the more you can tax residents.
One rule to follow when handling taxes in Cities: Skylines is keeping the tax rate around 11-13%. If you set your taxes any higher than this, you risk driving some of your residents away. The more residents you have, the more money you make. With that in mind, raise taxes slowly, and try keeping it under 13% overall.
Piecing Everything Together
Overall, your city’s residents will determine how much money you make in Cities: Skylines. Remember to start your city off small, and pay close attention to details like taxation and zoning. Once you master a happy balance, you’ll be able to maximize the amount of money you make in the game.
Additionally, you’ll have an easier time managing money as your city grows and expands. No matter what you do, ensure your residents are happy. If they start leaving, you’ll have a harder time making and managing money in Cities: Skylines. So, how do you make and manage money in Cities: Skylines? Let us know down in the comments below!
Speed Things Up
This one might seem obvious, but it’s worth stating anyway. Speed up time. Once you’ve found your happy medium of zoning, industry, taxes, and investment, speed up the in-game clock so time passes faster, and you don’t have to wait for long periods of time just to reap the benefits of your management expertise.
With everything Cities asks of you in the opening phases of the game, the goal of creating that perfect city can seem unreachable. But following these simple tips will help ensure you have all the money you need to turn your lonely outpost into a shining beacon of civilization. If you still need help, be sure to check out our other guides too!
