How to Make Money Fast in Cities: Skylines 2

Learning how to make money in Cities: Skylines 2 is necessary to keep your virtual city’s economy buzzing strong, but unfortunately, the game doesn’t outright spell the best ways to make funds. If you’re having trouble, here are some of the fastest methods to make money in Cities: Skylines 2.

Ways to Make Money Fast in Cities: Skylines 2

There are several ways in this city-building sim to make some dough. Primarily, you can accumulate more funds by improving your city’s rank. Within the first months of managing, you’ll likely level up your city for the first time. The first payment rounds up around $1 million, and each rank up afterward will be a slightly higher payout.

Naturally, your city earns experience put toward ranking up from building new roads, expanding electricity and water networks, and so on. Placing the more essential structures first will accumulate XP much faster, especially for sites that can provide substantial services such as healthcare and postal.

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As the person creating the rules, you could also make money in Cities: Skylines 2 by taxing the population. It’s not the best method since you can upset the balance of the people by making them unhappy, so I’d recommend carefully surveying how you raise taxes for specific districts and industries.

For instance, keep residential taxes as low as possible and play around with raising taxes for commercial and industrial spaces; find the sweet spot based on the city’s growth to sustain healthy upward mobility for the population and not bleed them out.

If taxes sound too daunting, you can take up exporting services. Constructing power lines and transferring that energy to established plants can net you some money, and then eventually, you can send out water to handle another city’s sewage system and make windmills. Automatically, you’ll start accumulating funds, but based on where you put everything determines how effective exporting turns out for you.

Lastly, cutting services in Cities: Skylines 2 might be necessary to get over a rough bend when starving for money, so don’t be afraid to do this if you can afford to. I recommend sliding service work around 80 percent of their budget. If you do this, keep tabs on population happiness.

For the most part, continuing to expand your city is the fastest way to make money, but in between ranking up, balancing taxes and cutting services nets you a steady income. Over time, you’ll get a handle on how things work and will be making money in no time in Cities: Skylines 2.

If you’re looking for more, check out our explanation on mods in Cities: Skylines 2.