Cities: Skylines 2

In Cities: Skylines 2, the demand for business zones is unified while the demand for residential zones is separate. Each density (low, medium, and high) has its own demand bar, and people who want to move into low-density zones will refuse to take up space in a medium or high-density area.

This can be a problem for players because high-density apartment buildings are more lucrative, and they take up less land per citizen. Commercial zones also appreciate the way they concentrate customers into a small area. That means players of Cities: Skylines 2 need to figure out how to increase demand specifically for medium and high-density residences.

The City Information Screen

Cities Skylines 2 Demand — The zoning demand breakdown in Cities: Skylines 2.

The secret is to check the City Information screen. Players can find it by selecting the round button connected to the demand bars along the bottom. This brings up a breakdown of what factors are increasing and decreasing demand for each zone type.

As the image above shows, all residential zones share the same growth factors like "Happiness" and "Taxes," but with one big exception. The number of students in the city, regardless of education level, encourages people to choose medium and high-density housing over low-density. This means that the city's education level is the key driver of high-density demand.

The Education System

Cities Skylines 2 Education Overlay — Education instiutions in Cities: Skylines 2.

Education in Cities: Skylines 2 is part of a complex system involving jobs, new citizens, and the game's aging system. Most children will go to elementary school if there are enough available and if they're close enough to people's homes. Most teens will go to high school if they first went to elementary school, though high schools don't have to be around every corner.

After that, both teens and adults can go to college, but only if they're already "Educated." College grads can then go on to a university, and university grads are in the "Highly Educated" group. Along the way, citizens spend more of their time as students, and by doing so they drive up demand for medium and high-density housing. Highly educated citizens can also fill jobs at high-end businesses, and so an educated population is better for a city's bottom line in general.

Something else that can affect demand is noise pollution. Two residential zone types, Mixed Housing and Low-Rent Housing, create a small amount of noise pollution within their own buildings. This makes them less appealing to families than the regular zone types.

One last thing to keep in mind is that a little goes a long way. The residential demand bars are for each family that wants to enter the city, not for each building. One row of high-density residential can wipe out the same amount of demand as five rows of low-density housing.

Cities: Skylines 2 is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.