How to Make Money in City: Skylines (25 Best Ways & Tips)

Cities: Skylines is a popular online game that definitely is great if you’d like to make lots of money.

However, it can be a struggle to make a bunch of money in this.

But here you’ll discover 25 different ways to make money, along with tips and tricks to make Cities: Skylines – a fun game that’ll really give you the immersive experience you’re going for.

 

25 Ways to Make Money in Cities: Skylines

Here are 25 surefire ways and tips that’ll help you really improve your city, and also give you a lot of ways to make some serious cash too.

 

1. Have a Plan for the City

If you know what you’re doing, you should have a generalized plan for the city.

Specifically, where you’ll be putting residential areas.

Lots of people just rush right in, and they don’t actually look at how to build these cities.

However, by looking at this and planning it out, you’ll be able to make a great city that earns you cash.

 

2. Set the Taxes High

Everyone hates taxes, but in this game, you want to put them between 12-15% from the get-go.

If you put it close to 15, there is a chance that you may upset some of the citizens, but you should set them as high as you can.

 

3. Add a Lower Tax District

Got citizens that should be in certain areas but they’re refusing to because of those high taxes?

Take those people and put them in a district that’s separate.

Have them go to there, lower the taxes for a little bit, and then, slowly raise them as they move in.

 

4. Consider Steady Tax Increase

If they are moving out the second you raise those taxes, then consider just slowly keeping the taxes at one level, raise it higher and higher, but not enough to upset them, and from there, you’ll see them increase in taxes.

You should be mindful of the people who do leave, and if they end up climbing a bit too high, lower them for a bit and ten make them grow.

 

5. Level Up the Property Value

Leveling up the property value of the different homes within actually is great for raisin the residential taxes.

While they can only be maxed to five, there are a lot of people who will still move in, and it’s a great way to farm for money.

 

6. Hit Those Milestones

For beginner players, the best way to make quick cash is to create a lot of areas where you can hit the milestones.

Milestones are done by creating lots of residential areas and making sur that the milestones are hit.

But just like with the first tip, always make sure that you don’t build too fast, as that can impact the feelings of the population.

Also See: How to Make Money With Global Internet Fortunes

 

7. Build the Homes and Roads Correctly

Homes and roads are something you need to be mindful of building.

People will build too many homes and not enough roads, or they won’t build enough homes and people don’t move in.

You should build this in a balanced manner, and make sure that if there are needs for the city, you couldn’t neglect them.

 

8. Avoid Bridges Early on

Bridges are nice for expansion and growth, but the problem is, they cost a ton of money.

That means, you’re losing money in your budget.

Eventually you can opt for it, but it’s better to just wait till you need them to build a bridge.

 

9. Go for a Road Rather Than a Tunnel

When possible, always build a road over a tunnel.

Tunnels may be great, but the problem is, just like with bridges, they take forever to make, and your budget will be eaten up if you’re not careful.

Try to avoid making too many tunnels, and only use them if there is absolutely no way to put a road around or in some way to avoid the use of a tunnel.

Also See: How to Make Money on Meete App & How to Make Money on Bamboo App.

 

10. Lower Your Service Budgets

Service budgets are good for later on, but at the beginning of cities: Skylines you don’t need these.

Lower them, and make sure they’re not as effective.

If your city is smaller, you’ll be able to save lots of cash, which you can later on invest back later.

As of note, you should only lower this at the very beginning.

If you’ve already built and established city, just keep the budgets set to 100%

 

11. Don’t Build Too Many Service Buildings

If you’re building your places, you should make sure that you’re not putting too many service buildings.

Service buildings are necessary, but if you notice that your heat map is filled with this, it’ll definitely eat into the budgets and the profits too.

Only build these when absolutely necessary, and it’ll help with making the money that much quicker down the line.

 

12. Be Smart With Transportation Systems

You should look at the type of transport that you’re putting out there.

Make sure to maximize the type of money you have, while also not making it too expensive.

Sometimes, you’re better off having a bus rather than a train system due to how money-draining it can be.

Just like with city services, the right types of services play a major part.

 

13. Become Friends With That Budget Slider

You should use the budget slider to see how much to invest inside utilities and services.

You can stretch this until you get the right equipment and also, it’s a good way to use your budget without having to heavily invest.

This can be the biggest money saver out there, so for people who like to make sure that they do have a budget, this is how it’s done.

 

14. Don’t Expand Too Many Industries

Industries are good, but they can be really expensive, especially if they’re not local.

Be mindful of the types of expansion that you’re doing, and only focus on trying to expand only a few industries.

Once you’ve managed to handle this type of budget and focus, then you can import, and then grow a whole lot quicker.

 

15. Stop Trying to Constantly Get Imports

Similar to the expansions, but if you’re constantly importing to make sure that the city is going, because you don’t have it, you’re not going to make money.

You should try to make sure that you’re not constantly attempting to build imports, but instead, make sure that you’re also exporting, and start to build sustainable money.

 

16. Zone it Correctly

If you haven’t zoned correctly, you should make sure that you do so.

You should balance out the commercial and residential zoning plans.

Don’t overcrowd the residential locations with tons of businesses, and in the same vein, don’t just toss businesses in places where it should be quiet.

Be mindful of space and give people space.

 

17. Give the Residents Stuff That They Need Close by

Another quite obvious one, is make sure that you’re also giving the people that live in your city the adequate stuff that they need to get things done.

Sure, you may have a ton of different residents, but if they can’t get to a grocery store or to shop somewhere then you’re going to have them upset.

Build the structures that they need, as they will stay here, and they will then make money for you.

 

18. Go for Low Investments First

If you’re going to invest, go low first.

You won’t need to put too many investments into stuff, and you can keep everything at lower numbers for a longer period of time.

Try to expand and adjust accordingly.

This also may be good to make sure you watch out for, as the imbalance of different investments can impact the way that you grow.

 

19. Look at the Residents

The way you’re able to make money in this is through the resident.

You should pay attention to zoning, taxation, and also look at how they feel.

If they clearly are upset at how you’re running things look at what they’re directly upset about, as this can help to maximize the payouts that you get.

They want a balance, and you’ll definitely be more in control if you do manage this.

 

20. Create Networks That Stick

Trains are usually something that you have to make sur that you build early on.

If you’re looking to build transport networks, you should make sure that they’re easy enough to use, and also look to ensure that they are running smoothly.

You might need to invest more if you’re noticing that residents are mad.

 

21. Be Careful About Truckers

Truckers are good as they’re vital for supply chain reasons, but some users notice that their profits get eaten because residents are mad about how much traffic there is.

When you’re making sure you have exports going in and out of the city, make sure it doesn’t interfere with the current production that’s happening, and a person’s commute.

 

22. Build a Supply Chain

If you’re looking to make money in Cities: Skylines not just of the residents, you need to build a supply chain.

Supply chains for industries are good, and you can export, and then then bring more money inside.

The goal is to create the proper expansion that helps to make sure you’re able to manage all of this, and to keep it grow.

Again, with supply chains, don’t build them near any residential properties, and you’ll want to make sure that they’re not interfering with other production.

 

23. Build More as Needed

You won’t need everything immediately.

Sometimes, as cities grow the people demand certain amenities that need to be built.

Build those as they come along.

While it’s tempting to build everything right away, it’s going to be a big challenge for many people.

You’re definitely going to struggle if you do put too much up at once, so be mindful with any amenity added.

You don’t need tons of roads early on, so build as needed, and expand from there.

 

24. Don’t Over-Build

If you feel the temptation to expand the roads, you’re not alone.

This can be something lots of people struggle to deal with, as they want to build these roads for “future” planning, but then they end up running out of money.

Unless there are a lot of zones currently, this will not get you a lot of money, and it definitely can be a waste of different resources that are there.

The best thing to do is to slowly expand, create new zones, and try to make sure everything’s balanced before you start to move forward.

 

25. Make Sure All Zones Have Resources

Finally, make sure all zones have resources.

You can expand as much as you want, but if you want to make money through expansion, you want to make sure that you balance out everything.

Some users can do this, put the game into stasis, and everything’s fine.

If you do this and you’re not balanced, you’ll then run into the issues of people leaving because you forgot to install water, or electricity, or even sewage in some cases.

This ruins the power grids and can also ruin the entire economy.

The main thing is, if you do decide to expand, always make sure that the resources are there, and then bring the people in.

So long as you have a means to ensure that the resources are properly managed, you should be fine.

Keeping all of this in mind will definitely improve your ability to handle all of these changes as well.

 

Conclusion

Cities: Skylines has different ways for you to make money, some of which are good, some of which are a bit of a struggle to work with.

In this, we went over the top ways to make money, and tips to make sure you continue to make money past this point.

Go out there and start making money and see the difference these tips will make for your game and experience.