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School: the largest land-value bonus per tile

A school covers 10 tiles and adds +150 to land value, the highest of any single service in BuildCity. This page covers cost, placement, and how to use a school to push a struggling cluster into the next density tier.

Cost and coverage

The BuildCity school costs ₩4,000 to build and ₩80 per hour to operate. Its coverage radius is 10 tiles, and it adds +150 to land value inside that radius. The +150 is the largest single-service bonus in the game and the main reason schools are placed early in any density-focused city plan.

Coverage size means a single well-placed school can lift an entire residential cluster into a higher density tier. Two schools placed too close together waste their bonus, since a building inside two coverage circles only counts the bonus once. The right pattern is one school per dense cluster, not two schools in the same neighbourhood.

Placement for tier promotion

Place the school near the densest part of a residential cluster. A school on an empty edge wastes most of the 10-tile radius. The same school near 30 packed tiles often pushes that cluster from density tier two to tier three, which can multiply tax income from that area without expanding the city footprint.

Reserve a service slot during the road plan, ideally near the main corridor where future expansions can grow around it. The road layout guide explains how to leave that slot in advance, and the land value guide covers how the +150 bonus interacts with density tiers.

When to place the school

A common beginner habit is to delay the school because the build cost is twice the price of a fire station. That decision often costs more than it saves. A school placed early raises land value in the first cluster, and that higher land value attracts denser buildings, which generate more tax income. The +150 bonus pays for itself within a few cycles in any cluster that was about to climb a density tier.

If a residential cluster is sitting just below the next density tier, a school is usually the cheapest way to push it over the line.

Common mistakes

  1. Stacking two schools with overlapping radii. The +150 bonus does not double inside the overlap.
  2. Placing the school on the city edge where most of the 10-tile radius covers nothing.
  3. Skipping the school because of the higher build cost, then leaving the cluster stuck below its next density tier.
  4. Building the school before utilities can support the new density. Density refuses to climb if water or sewage is saturated.

What to do next

The school pairs well with a hospital for combined +120 and +150 land value bonuses across overlapping clusters. Read the happiness and land value guide for density-tier mechanics, and the buildings reference for the full service comparison table.

Try a tier-promotion city Back to Buildings