Keeping citizens happy is a vital component of running a successful city in Cities: Skylines. Happiness allows buildings to level up, raises land value, attracts more citizens, increases tax income, and allows the city to grow into a flourishing metropolis.
Each zone has different requirements for happiness, and residential zones are no different. There’s a wide variety of ways that players can increase happiness, and players should aim to tick off as many as possible if they want to create a functioning city. For those starting the game and looking for advice, here are some of the best tips to keep in mind when trying to increase residential happiness in Cities: Skylines.
9 Avoid Pollution
Industrial zones, as well as some buildings like coal and oil power plants, pollute their surroundings. This can be seen in the discolored ground surrounding these areas, and the smog that tends to linger in the air. Players should separate these areas from residential zones as much as possible, as pollution causes citizens to get sick.
Water pollution is also a dangerous factor, as accidentally pumping sewage water into the pipes can lead to a city-wide health crisis. Players should plan their city accordingly to avoid any nasty pollution spilling over into the homes of their citizens.
8 Avoid Noise Pollution
Noise is just as harmful as other types of pollution, only in a different way. Noise pollution is caused by industrial zones, some city services, as well as heavy traffic and main roads. It doesn’t usually make citizens sick, but it does cause stress and reduce overall happiness.
To counteract this, players should keep noisy areas like highways and industrial zones away from residential areas. They should also use sound barriers to prevent noise from main roads carrying to nearby residences. A convenient solution is to place commercial zones in-between the road and residential area. This acts as a sound barrier, while also providing citizens with a convenient place to purchase goods.
7 Reduce Crime Rate
Rampant crime will tank citizen happiness, so crime rates must be brought down as low as possible. This is achieved primarily by ensuring there are enough police stations and police cars to cover the entire city, and that they can reach any problem areas.
However, unemployment also affects crime rate. Players should try to balance residential areas with enough commercial and industrial zones to ensure there are enough jobs to go around, as high unemployment will lead to a steep increase in crime and therefore reduce happiness.
6 Collect Garbage
Most buildings in the game will produce trash, and this needs to be collected efficiently in order to keep citizens happy. A build-up of uncollected garbage will make citizens sick, putting further strain on the health services of the city.
In most cases, uncollected garbage is either due to a lack of landfills/incinerators or garbage trucks that are stuck in traffic and are falling behind schedule. Players should place more garbage buildings, upgrade roads, and manage traffic to make sure garbage trucks get to where they need to be.
5 Educate Citizens
Citizens that first arrive in the town will be largely uneducated, but as the city develops, players will need to invest in their education system to produce enough educated workers for commercial, industrial, and office zones.
Elementary and high schools are particularly important, as there are lots of eligible citizens but limited capacity. By constructing enough of these buildings, players can reduce unemployment by ensuring their citizens are qualified for the jobs available. As population fluctuates, so will the demand for education, so players should keep an eye on and upgrade their school systems throughout.
4 Keep Citizens Healthy
Even if players limit pollution and collect garbage on time, citizens will still get sick and die. It’s a good idea to have a robust healthcare system that can deal with the city’s needs. Having enough hospitals and medical clinics provides a key service, and therefore increases happiness.
It’s not just about emergency care, though. Deathcare, childcare, and eldercare must also be provided, ensuring corpses are dealt with properly and children and elders have someplace to go. These all help to keep different parts of the population happy.
3 Provide Public Transport
Traffic can be a massive problem in Cities: Skylines. As the population grows, players will be faced with more and more citizens that need to be transported around the city. Public transport, such as buses, trams, metro, and trains, can be an excellent way to solve this problem.
Not only does it increase happiness due to more services being available, but it also reduces traffic volume as more citizens choose public transport over driving. This reduces noise pollution and eases congestion, allowing other services like garbage to function efficiently, which also helps maintain citizens’ happiness.
2 Beautify The City
Players should make their city as appealing and naturalistic as possible to increase happiness. They can use roads with grass or trees to add a bit of greenery, or plant them manually and link up areas with paths to create makeshift parks.
Parks & Plazas buildings such as playgrounds and gardens also provide entertainment to nearby citizens. These are cheap and effective ways of increasing happiness, and players should include parks throughout their city to ensure the highest boost possible.
1 Implement Policies
Certain policies can also have an impact on city happiness. Book Fair increases the happiness and entertainment of buildings that are within a public library’s radius. This is handy if players already have most areas covered with a public library – otherwise, it’s probably not worth the increased cost.
Other policies can indirectly affect happiness. Smoking Ban slightly reduces happiness, but also gives a boost to citizen health, which can lead to an overall net gain. Pet Ban is similar, slightly reducing happiness but also meaning less garbage needs to be collected and thus making a detrimental build-up less likely.
Cities: Skylines is available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Windows, Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch and Google Stadia.