Zones offer some control over developer types. There are 3 zones, 1 for each category of developer type. Each zone is divided into densities, which allows the player to control the number of occupants or jobs each building supports. Higher densities mean higher occupants or jobs per building built. However, zoning at higher densities is more expensive, and before any medium or high density buildings start developing, the player must have a population of at least 1,100 and 26,000 people, respectively. Note, however, that the density of the zone has nothing to do with the wealth of the development, except for low-density industrial, in which only farms develop.
In the original SimCity, zones are fixed size and take up 3x3 tiles (2x2 in the unreleased NES version), leading to being unable to make exact layouts. SimCity 2000 allowed manual zoning tile by tile with a rectangular fill tool, allowing for exact layouts, and upgraded zones to have a low and high density type for each of the base three RCI zones. SimCity 3000 introduced medium density as an intermediate option and an option for farmland zones. SimCity 4 changed the zone system for residential zones requiring users to manually select which direction the zoned buildings will face, and turned low density industrial zones into dedicated farm only zones. The specific size residential properties could take could also be manually defined.
Zone Types[]
SimCity[]
Note: Schools and hospitals will build on Residential zones
- Residential - $100
- Commercial - $100
- Industrial - $100
SimCity 2000[]
Residential[]
- Light - §5 per Tile
- Dense - §10 per Tile
Commercial[]
- Light - §5 per Tile
- Dense - §10 per Tile
Industry[]
- Light - §5 per Tile
- Dense - §10 per Tile
Other[]
- Airport - §250 per Tile
- Seaport - §150 per Tile
Note: Churches build on Residential zones
SimCity 3000[]
Residential[]
- Light - §10 per Tile
- Medium - §20 per Tile
- Dense - §50 per Tile
Commercial[]
- Light - §10 per Tile
- Medium - §20 per Tile
- Dense - §50 per Tile
Industry[]
- Light - §10 per Tile
- Medium - §20 per Tile
- Dense - §50 per Tile
Other[]
- Landfill - §50 per Tile
- Airport - §500 per Tile
- Seaport - §250 per tile
- Dezone - §2 per Tile
SimCity 4[]
Residential[]
- Low - §10 per Tile
- Medium - §20 per Tile
- High - §50 per Tile
Commercial[]
- Low - §10 per Tile
- Medium - §20 per Tile
- High - §50 per Tile
Industry[]
- Agriculture - §10 per Tile
- Medium - §20 per Tile
- High - §50 per Tile
Other[]
- Landfill - §50 per Tile (Minimum of 2x2)
- Dezone - §1 per Tile
SimCity Creator[]
- Low Density zone - 10$ per tile
- Medium Density zone - 20$ per tile
- High density zone - 50$ - per tile
- Landfill zone - 50$ - per tile
- Dezone - $2 per tile
SimCity (2013)[]
- Residential - Free
- Commercial - Free
- Industrial - Free
- Dezone - Free