SimCity BuildIt Residential Zones: Upgrades Guide
SimCity BuildIt Residential Zones: Upgrades Guide
SimCity BuildIt residential zones are where your Sims live — and where all your population comes from. Everything else in the game exists to serve them: services keep them happy, specializations boost them, factories supply the items that upgrade them. Understand simcity buildit residential zones and you understand the core loop of the game.
A residential zone starts as an empty plot beside a road. Sims move in and build a small home. That home then asks for crafted items — made in your factories and commercial buildings — to upgrade. Each upgrade makes the home taller, denser and more populous, until it reaches its maximum level. At maximum level, a home inside a specialization boost area can become an Epic Building through an Epic Project, which is how the tallest towers in the game are made.
There are eleven residential zones in the game: the regular Residential Zone, plus Latin America Zone, Old Town House, Tokyo Town Zone, Parisian Zone, London Town Zone, OMEGA Zone, and one zone for each of the five regions — Limestone Cliffs, Cactus Canyon, Green Valley, Frosty Fjords and Sunny Isles. The Tokyo, Parisian and London zones unlock only after the Airport is built, which needs 120,000 Sims and 80,000 Simoleons. OMEGA Zones need the OMEGA research path and ControlNet and Drone services.
Happiness decides whether homes upgrade or abandon. A home needs services — power, water, sewage, waste, fire, police and health — and it needs specialization coverage to grow well. A home outside all coverage will show complaints, and a home with no services at all will eventually be abandoned. The fix is layout, not luck: place homes near services, inside at least one specialization boost area, and away from factory pollution.
Upgrading is also an economy question. Each upgrade costs crafted items, and those items cost factory time. Do not upgrade every home at once. Upgrade the homes inside your best boost areas first, because they give the most population per item spent. Leave edge homes for later, when production is faster and your factories have more slots.
FAQ
How do residential zones upgrade?
With crafted items from factories and commercial buildings. Each upgrade makes the home taller and more populous.
How many residential zones are there?
Eleven: regular, Latin America, Old Town, Tokyo Town, Parisian, London Town, OMEGA, and five regional zones.
How do I unlock Tokyo, Paris and London zones?
Through the Airport, which needs 120,000 Sims and 80,000 Simoleons to build.
What is an Epic Building?
A fully upgraded home inside a specialization boost area, converted through an Epic Project into a tall, high-population tower.
Why do homes get abandoned?
Usually missing services or no specialization coverage. Check power, water, fire, police, health and boost coverage first.
Learn more in our best layouts for beginners guide and on the SimCity BuildIt homepage.
