Haste makes waste, chum. To be honest with you, there is no quick way to make money in Cities: Skylines II. If finances are a problem and are getting in the way of your enjoyment, you can just turn them off entirely
However, there are ways that you can greatly boost your city’s revenues, which is maybe more what you’re looking for. This includes some tricks that you may not have thought about, plus some that you might not even know that you can do. Here’s how to get your city back in the green.
Hit Milestones
The single fastest way to get money outside of taking out a loan is to simply hit a milestone. Each level that your city passes will net you a huge lump sum to help you on your way to the next milestone. If you’re looking at this guide, there’s a good chance that you’re having trouble boosting your city up to these milestones, which is completely understandable. However, a good thing to do whenever you level up is to spend your money on these next hints.
Export your electricity
When you’re starting out, there isn’t much in terms of options for meeting your electricity needs. However, once you’ve gained a few levels, you can spend development points on unlocking some additional methods. This can lead to overproduction, which sounds bad but can be turned into a beautiful thing.
Each map has “outside connections,” and among them is a string of high-tension wires leading off the map. If you connect your electrical grid to these wires, you’ll begin exporting your excess power. This can not only cover your costs for the electricity your city actually uses, but can also bring in a steady profit. All because you overshot your needs.
Cut services and balance your taxes
Speaking of overshooting your needs, it’s very easy in Cities: Skylines 2 to cover your service needs a little too well. If you lay down a bunch of parks to beautify the city, then plop down a park maintenance depot, it can really take a bite out of your profit. However, the most likely source of your service woes will likely be immediately upgrading buildings once you place them. Each upgrade to your service buildings increases the amount they’ll suck from the budget.
If this is causing too much strain on the budget, you can cut services. This will reduce their efficiency but can be the change needed to get back in the green.
Raising taxes is sort of the easy, short-term way of increasing revenue since low taxes ensure that your citizens are more affluent. On the other hand, taxes are a big source of money for your city, so it’s always a balancing act. Likewise, if you crank up taxes, people will just leave. That includes commercial and industrial buildings.
This may seem counter-intuitive, but actually reducing your taxes can create big gains very quickly. If your office or commercial areas are suffering, they’re not going to produce much income. A tax cut can convince more of them to move in and upgrade, which then means more tax money in your pocket, even at a lower rate.
Build municipal buildings
You may not see any immediate benefits to building a city hall or central bank but don’t count it out. If you’re making bank with your industry or, say, exporting your excess electricity, then these buildings will help boost that. City hall will reduce your import fees, while a central bank will reduce them further and increase the income from your exports.
