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Are you looking for ways to make money in Cities Skylines 2? This guide will give you a few pointers, tips, and tricks to make you rich.
Developing a city from scratch in Cities Skylines 2 is not easy. It takes time, effort, and no small amount of money. Even when you just start out, you have to assume that you will be operating “in the red” for a while before turning a profit. So how do you even make money in this game? There are several methods that you can leverage, so keep reading to find out.
- Deep Simulation: Make choices that have ripple effects across the city. Intricate AI and economic systems mean players will need to strategize, problem solve and react to changes, challenges and opportunities.
- Epic Scale, Endless Possibilities: Build a thriving metropolis without compromise. In Cities: Skylines II, players will be able to build sky-high and across the map to realize their dream city like never before.
- Cities That Come Alive: Follow the lives of individual citizens, from love and loss to wealth and well-being. Player decisions will shape the lives of their city’s citizens.
- A Dynamic World: Pick a map to set the climate and biome of the city. These natural forces will shape the growth of players’ cities as they contend with rising pollution, changeable weather and seasonal challenges.
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How to make money in Cities Skylines 2
There are several ways to keep your city from bankruptcy. The best way to approach this topic is to juggle everything, taking advantage of every method available. For convenience, these are the best methods on how to earn money in Cities Skylines 2:
- A lump sum from Milestones
- Earning through Taxes
- Adjusting the Services Budget
- Taking out Loans
- Increasing the city’s Industrial Capacity
- Earning a revenue through Export
Let’s take a look at each of these methods in more detail. By employing them, your city in Cities Skylines 2 will become profitable in no time.
Turning a profit – How to earn money in Cities Skylines 2?
There are many ways to make money in Cities Skylines 2, but you shouldn’t rely on just one of them. The key to success is to combine several methods in moderation so that your city can thrive. Equally, not all methods work the same or even during the same stages of the game, and some of them are better than others. Let’s examine the six best methods to make money in Cities Skylines 2.
Milestones
Besides unlocking new features and buildings for your city, completing Milestones always comes with a lump sum of cash. During the early game, while your city is still developing, Milestones are the best way to make money. To complete Milestones, you should always expand your city and its infrastructure and services. This gives you XP, which contributes to reaching the next Milestone.
Taxation
Taxation may seem like the most obvious way to make money in Cities Skylines 2. However, it’s a double-edged sword that can spiral your city into decline if you’re not careful. All taxes begin at 10% when you first start. Every percent you increase or decrease them by can have a huge effect on your population. Lower taxes create a happy population and people eager to move in. Conversely, taxes increased by even just a few percent can make people move out. Therefore, it is best not to increase taxes to make money until your city is desirable enough to keep the population happy despite the higher cost of living in it.
Services Budget
Another way to make money in Cities Skylines 2 is to lower the city’s spending on services. This reduces their budget by a certain amount, which is an efficient cost-saving measure. That could make it just enough to put you back “in the green” until you need to increase them. However, note that lowering the services’ budgets will also impact their performance and quality. So use this sparingly and try not to go overboard with budget slashes. With that said, this is a very good method to make money during the early and early-mid game.
Loans
Loans can be cash injections your city needs while you grow and develop. They are an instantaneous source of cash that comes with a hefty interest that you’ll have to pay each in-game week until you can pay off the debt. However, strategic use of loans can help bring your projects to life, and with good planning, they can pay off themselves. Your city’s growth and developed banking in it can reduce loan rates. So you shouldn’t be afraid to leverage loans to make money in the game when you really need it.
Industrialization
Industrialization represents one of the best ways of making money in the later stages of the game. This doesn’t really concern the zoned-in (yellow) industrial sectors, but rather the specialist industries that take advantage of your map’s resources. However, they need to be well-developed first, with plenty of extra buildings and a production chain. When it’s all set up and of a decent scale, this method will begin raking in a good chunk of money for your city.
Export
Similarly to Industrialization, Export represents another late-game avenue to make money. The two are intrinsically connected, making the process of industrial production and export a one-two punch to make cash in the game. To export your goods, your city needs to expand to the edges of the map, or at the very least to any outside connection hubs. This is a bit easier for aeroplane and boat connections, which need little to no expansion. However, these methods are much more expensive than highways and railroads. To begin exporting goods, you need to be able to create a surplus first, so make sure that your city is producing enough to sustain itself and have enough to export as well.
If you’re reading up on Cities Skylines 2, then you should check out our other guides, like How to Rotate Buildings in Cities Skylines 2, Will Cities Skylines 2 Have Natural Disasters, and Are There Mods for Cities Skylines 2.