Help! My population is declining

[motionman04 0]

Well, my population is at 6600, and all of a sudden, my residential RCI begins to plummet, and I have no idea why. I have a hospital, schools, and fire department set up, and most of the people are happy with the traffic situation, how do I avoid this?

[lucashp 1]

Well, if you only have residental zones, it will go down because there are jobs needed, then when there are to many jobs and need workers, residentail goes up.

[motionman04 0]

I think I was able to fix the problem, I did have industrial and commercial zones, I built a college and that helped out big time. But is there any way to reduce the fluctuation in RCI?

[Tolomar 5]

well depends on the reason for the population decline...a: are sims just leaving the city ( no jobs, or something else wrong), you will have to adress the issue for them leaving, whatever it maybe (way too many to list)

are they upgrading to higher wealth status?  If it's this, it is suppose to be that way, I've had cities with 500K plus in R$ sims drop to 300-250K of R$$$ sims...basicly the rich sims need more leg room in their homes...the poor squish into little appartments (check the job graph, see if the sims are leaving or going up in wealth level)

so if theres still growth (new buildings growing in the town) or positive numbers on the demand chart) it's suppose to work that way

[RiverCocytus 0]

If the RCI graph plummeted you will need to zone more of what has risen in response.

You will probably have more Industrial than your sims can work at.

This will create a cross-city demand, since your city will have extra jobs.

If this is your first city, either farms or dirty industry is inescapable, mostly. You can be clever and do commercial only until High Tech, but it is risky and you will definitely lose money unless you zero out ambulance and bus funding. (Well, I guess you could still make money if you are more careful with amenities...)

To make money with farms, build them so that they are forced to construct adjacent to rail; this way they will grow larger very predictably. As long as the farm is 21 tiles you will be fine. (taxes from farms are from the building, not the size of the farmland, but real jobs are determined by farmland size.)

To make money with dirty industry, you will need to NOT have those blasted 'farley's foundry's. They are stupidly poor and inexpensive, and pay very little taxes. Though they produce more pollution, MPR Metals and Dao Chemicals are a better bet for you on the outset. The key with industry is just basically to put it near the edge of the map and allow a connection, and to get larger industries the key is to zone a 2x2, 2x3 or 3x3 of medium density or high density and hold CTRL before releasing the zone. It will force it to be larger and force a larger industry to build there. If you provide water you can even force 4x4's. Manage the pollution by situating them far away from your other zones; place trees (mayor mode or god mode) between your residential areas and commercial areas. Mass transit can help drop times for getting to work, and the forced zoning will help control where people enter their work. Zone only adjacent to the first industry and you will find that the original industry becomes the sole entry/exit point for workers and freight. Cool!

Don't provide water to industry, IMO, unless it is in its own city or you have demand for High Tech. This helps control water pollution levels.

6600 people doesn't seem like a cap, but it might be. Add neighbor connections and amenities such as tennis courts to break through the demand cap that you might be hitting for R$$/R$$$. Simgoober's Church packs would be perfect for your city, I think, as they are champion cap breakers for the middle class.

There is a kind of cycle that goes on-- R and I cycle, and R creates demand for C, and C has a synergetic effect on itself. But if you build too much C there will not be enough customers for the big CO's and they will depress. (If you manage your traffic well you can avoid this by funneling your major traffic into where the big offices are. A city of 6000 with good education might produce a total of 2000 cars (depending on overall health levels, how much mass transit.. etc.) which if funnelled down an avenue might produce customer levels high enough for the big offices. I digress; if R demand drops, zone some C and/or I; if their demand drops zone R. C demand is slow to build at first but in later cities with higher health and education C will beat out I.

I hope that helps ya out!

[fate556 5]

all u have to do is check the graph and see which line is up and put whatever u need

[motionman04 0]

Thanks, that helped out quite a bit. Just a question though, where is the best spot to put farms? Far away from cities or nearby? And also, I noticed that there is demand for high tech industries, but they are not moving in. I heard planting trees nearby my industries can help with this process, is that true?

[motionman04 0]

I did notice that after a while, certain mid to low income housing start displaying the no job sign, thats when population starts declining. Should I add more industry to help this?? Its very strange, I notice that after a little while, the low income desirability starts declining, but so do the other ones. I have plenty of industrial, should I expand on my comercial buildings?

[RiverCocytus 0]

they need jobs or a way to get there.

To get high tech you will need water.

Farms should be placed a reasonable distance and should not get public water. They pollute water but not air.

[motionman04 0]

How do I get rid of the no job zot? I notice that I have plenty of industry and comercial zones, and I made bus stations, but the people won't use them.

[fate556 5]

i usally place medium parks in my industrial zone it keeps them building and increases the demand

[Peorth 17]

Try lowering the I and C taxes to encourage growth. Regarding bus stops, place them at busy intersections and/or adjacent to high-density buildings/skyscrapers.

[Mike3715 3]

Thanks for the knowledge...there is alot of stuff that I didn't know.  I have a pretty good size city (a little over 65,000) and it was starting to get kind of stale.