It's not easy to make money in Cities Skylines 2, as every decision (or lack thereof) can negatively impact your budget. While it's quite normal to start your new town with a negative balance, you'll need to invest in population growth, education, public transport, and outside connections in order to turn things around. Easier said than done though when you have a city in the balance, right? This guide will show you how to make Cities Skylines 2 money, whether it's through export or decreasing public service budgets.
If you're just starting out then we also have some Cities Skylines 2 tips to point you in the right direction, along with guides for how to rotate buildings in Cities Skylines 2 and fix any Cities Skylines 2 high rent problems
Grow your population
This may seem obvious, but the easiest way to increase your Cities Skylines 2 income in early game is by growing your population. More citizens means more residents, more shops, and more industry, so you'll automatically get more tax income. As you'll get most of your early game income from residential tax, try to assign as many areas as possible to residential use. It's best not to increase taxes though, as this will slow your population growth.
Naturally, an increasing population requires more space and more public services, but if you carefully plan your budget, you can ensure that your city and income grow faster than your expenses - we'll explain that in the next money-making tip.
Save money
Instead of looking for a new source of income, one of the best ways to increase your budget in Cities Skylines 2 is to save money wherever possible. Firstly, you should not overspend on public services. Not every neighbourhood needs its own hospital or school, for example. Try to place your service buildings in-between several neighbourhoods to maximise efficiency.
Furthermore, don't spend money on services you don't need. A fledgling town doesn't need large city parks, six-lane roads, or parking lots, for example. Stick to the necessities, such as schools, healthcare, fire stations, and police, and only add additional services when your citizens ask for them. Remember that most buildings require a monthly upkeep fee too, so don't underestimate the cost!
Finally, arguably the easiest way to make money in Cities Skylines 2 is to decrease public service budgets. Open the city economy panel, go to “services” and use the sliders to determine the budget. The text on the right will tell you what the budget is used for - if the service is functioning well, you can usually lower the slider to about 80% without major consequences. For example, decreasing the education budget will affect the average graduation chance, but if you already have plenty of workers for high-education jobs, you'll likely be able to handle this. Doing this for a bunch of different services will easily switch your negative balance to a few thousand credits in the plus.
Public transport and tourism
Another great way to get more money in Cities Skylines 2 is to create public transport. As most of your citizens have a daily commute, you'll gain a massive boost in income if you manage to monetise that. If your town is quite young, you should start with some bus lines and ask a fee of about 8 credits. On top of that, you can discourage car use by charging people for parking in certain areas.
If you really want to make a lot of Cities Skylines 2 money from public transport, however, you need two things: an attractive city and major outside connections. Expand your public transport network with a railway that leads from one end of your city to the other, build an airport, and create a harbour. Combined with a high city attractiveness, this will result in a huge influx of tourists and money. Large parks, large sports fields, and signature buildings will help you increase attractiveness.
Export goods
Related to the previous point, you can make a lot more Cities Skylines 2 money if you use outside connections to export goods. Note that this will require separate "cargo stations", which are different from passenger stations. The best way to export goods is usually through a cargo harbour, ideally one situated near an industrial zone.
Beware that goods produced by office zones typically generate a lot of money, while industries that supply more basic goods, such as vegetables and wood, aren't the best way to make your city wealthy. In other words, if you create industries that require a high level of education, you will generate more money for your Cities Skylines 2 town. The key is to provide good schooling (you'll need plenty of colleges and universities), and then build office zones as the demand grows.
Export energy and water
Don't overlook the fact that you can export any excess water and electricity in Cities Skylines 2 - all it takes is an outside connection. To export water, drag a blue waterline from one of your roads to the border of the city. Your water surplus will be exported automatically. For electricity, place a transformer station near the border of the map and connect its electric cable to one of the city's roads. Drag a powerline from the transformer station to the border of the map, and just like the water surplus, your excess electricity shall be exported for profit.
Of course, this means you can place extra water and energy stations to generate more income for your city. It's best to focus on electricity though, as this is typically worth more than water. Furthermore, it's best to use a large power plant instead of a wind turbine park, for example. While wind turbines are cleaner, you need an awful lot of them to generate the same amount of energy as a large coal power plant.
Get a loan
If you urgently need some Cities Skylines 2 money, you can always take out a loan. To do so, open the city economy panel and go to the loan tab, then drag the slider to increase or decrease the amount of money you want. However, as you'll need to pay interest, it's only wise to use the loan system if you invest the money into something profitable, such as public transport.
And that's how to make money in Cities Skylines 2. Enjoy your newfound wealth!
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