More money: raise income, keep costs in check

How your city’s cash works

Tap the Money card at the top: it breaks your net income down line by line – Taxes (max), efficiency ⚡, upkeep, welfare and later the task bonus. The guide covers the basics; this is about the levers.

Every connected building pays a base tax per level and second: residential 1 💰, commercial 2 💰, industry 3 💰. A shop at level 10 therefore brings in 20 💰 per second before location and efficiency come into play – anything that slows growth also slows your income.

Upkeep is based on that base tax and rises with the level: less than half of it for a fresh building, already more than half for a level-20 home. And it doesn’t drop when poor supply means the building pays only part of its taxes.

Roads, main roads, motorways, parks and landmarks, on the other hand, have no running upkeep. The railway costs 0.17 💰 per second per passenger to run.

Location and beauty: more taxes, same upkeep

The location bonus raises a building’s taxes by up to 25%, but not its upkeep – every percentage point of location ends up entirely in your net income. Tap a building and the panel shows under “Location” how much it is getting.

Residential likes parks and water, commercial likes homes and other shops around it, industry likes other industry. Parks lift every sector and cost a one-off 18 💰 per tile, nothing after that – there’s hardly a cheaper way to upgrade a row of buildings.

Beauty really pays off in two places: a villa – a home by the water in lovely surroundings – pays four to six and a half times what an ordinary house pays, and a hotel in the mountains up to three times what an ordinary shop pays; the lovelier the surroundings, the more. Upkeep stays at the normal rate. How to build such neighbourhoods is covered in the tip on beautiful neighbourhoods.

Unemployment and half-paid taxes: where money drains away

Every jobless resident costs you 0.6 💰 in welfare per second – so 100 jobless cost 60 💰 per second. The City card shows how many there are. If the number rises, zone new jobs close to your residential areas: commercial right next to them, industry at least five tiles away – a factory’s smoke doesn’t reach that far.

The ⚡ figure measures how much of your possible taxes actually arrives. A building with none of its needs covered pays only 42% – when new, roughly what its upkeep costs; at high levels, already less. Homes with a very long commute pay less on top of that.

Supply only works within one road network. If the City card shows “⚠️ split networks”, workers and open jobs can’t reach each other – often a few road tiles at 8 💰 each are enough to connect the districts.

Tasks and breaks: money that comes by itself

Every completed set of tasks permanently raises your profit by 3% – on whatever is left after upkeep and welfare. The percentages stack: after ten sets it’s +34%.

A set only counts once all three tasks are done – if one gets stuck, the bonus waits. Tackle the hardest one on purpose. Some tasks ask for a net income like +200 💰 per second or a balance like 20,000 💰; then it’s time to save instead of spending right away.

Breaks pay too: if you were away for at least 10 minutes – game closed or in the background – you get your net income for that time, rounded down in 5-minute steps and for one hour at most. It uses your current net income, so a tidy city earns more during the break as well.

What your money is worth spending on – and when

Zoning is free, a road costs 8 💰 per tile, a park 18 💰. Land gets more expensive with every parcel: your first expansion costs 120 💰, with 10 parcels the next costs about 3,500 💰, with 50 about 36,000 💰. Only buy land when you can build on it and connect it – empty land pays no taxes.

The main road arrives at chapter 5 or 3,500 residents. Its price grows with your land and the number of connected buildings. So don’t upgrade every road, only the routes that glow red in the traffic view – more on that in the tip on avoiding traffic jams.

Motorways and rail, by contrast, have fixed, high prices: from 40,000 💰 per motorway tile (one drag builds both carriageways), 120,000 💰 per pair of junctions, from 40,000 💰 per track tile and 400,000 💰 per station. Build them when they solve a real problem, not in advance.

At the very top, the big goals are waiting: the first landmark costs from 50 million 💰, each further one 70% more; city prestige on the tasks board starts at 150 million 💰, each rank 60% more. Once the Taxes (max) line on your Money card is above 12,000 per second, both prices grow with your city. Landmarks raise location and beauty over a wide radius – place them where villas and hotels benefit. Prestige itself brings in nothing; it’s the place for money you no longer need.

Mistakes that burn money

• Demolishing too early: demolition refunds nothing, only parks give back half. A main road takes its upgrade with it.
• Buying land blind: if the ＋ marker says “＋ 6/9”, only six of the nine tiles are buildable – at the full price.
• Rezoning out of impatience: it costs money, and the building starts again at level 1.
• Putting homes in the smog: a home stuck at its limit in thick air pays no taxes – but still costs upkeep. Mines pay a fixed four times what an ordinary factory pays, but smoke three times as much over twice the radius.
• Running the railway through the centre: every building level within two tiles makes a track tile 4,000 💰 more expensive; around the outside, the same line often costs only a fraction.

By the way, you can’t go bankrupt: if things go badly, your city just stands still – and the Money card shows you where to act.