Note: Times are in Pacific Standard Time
The short version
| Where the money comes from | How much | When it lands |
|---|---|---|
| Logging in | §2,500, growing by about §20 for every day of your streak | Instantly, when you claim it |
| Visitors spending time on your lot | §8 per visitor-hour (§24 on Welcome lots) | Overnight, 4 AM |
| Being in the Top 100 for your category | §1,500 / §1,250 / §1,000 for 1st / 2nd / 3rd, sliding down to §10 at rank 100 | Overnight, 4 AM |
| Your Sim earning on a lot | Whatever the object pays — doubled if you’re a new player on a Welcome lot | Immediately |
The single most important thing to understand: placing in the Top 100 is worth far more than traffic alone. A rank-1 property earns §1,500 a night. To earn that much from visitor hours you would need 188 visitor-hours in a single day — roughly 47 people staying four hours each. Traffic is how you climb the chart; the chart is where the money is.
1. The daily login bonus
Claim it once a day and it grows the longer you keep the streak alive.
| Your streak | You get |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | §2,500 |
| Day 7 | §2,623 |
| Day 30 | §3,096 |
| Day 100 | §4,534 |
| Day 365 | §9,979 |
- It’s one claim per account per day, not per Sim. The money lands on whichever Sim you claim with, so claim on the Sim that needs it.
- The day rolls over at midnight US Eastern time. If you play late in a different time zone, that’s the clock that matters.
- Miss one single day and you’re back to day 1. There is no grace period and no streak freeze.
- There’s no ceiling — the streak just keeps paying more.
2. Visitor hours
Every hour a visitor spends on your property earns the lot §8. On a Welcome lot it earns §24.
It’s the total across everyone, not per person, so ten people staying six minutes each adds up to the same one hour as one person staying an hour.
| A day’s traffic | Visitor-hours | You earn | On a Welcome lot |
|---|---|---|---|
| One visitor, 45 minutes | under 1 | nothing | nothing |
| One visitor, 3 hours | 3 | §24 | §72 |
| Four visitors, 2 hours each | 8 | §64 | §192 |
| Ten visitors, 4 hours each | 40 | §320 | §960 |
| Twenty visitors, 6 hours each | 120 | §960 | §2,880 |
Three rules that catch people out:
- You need at least one full hour of visitor time in a day, or you get nothing. Partial hours are dropped — 119 minutes pays exactly the same as 60.
- Your own time doesn’t count. Neither does your roommates’. Only visitors. Sitting on your own property all day earns you nothing and does not help your Top 100 rank either.
- Every roommate is paid the full amount. A lot earning §320 of visitor bonus with six roommates pays §320 to each of the six.
Welcome lots are the only category with a boosted rate. Money, Skills, Services, Entertainment, Games, Shopping, Romance, Offbeat and Residence lots all earn the same §8.
3. The Top 100 property bonus
Every night, properties are ranked within their own category and the top 100 of each get paid.
| Rank | Every night |
|---|---|
| 1st | §1,500 |
| 2nd | §1,250 |
| 3rd | §1,000 |
| 4th | §970 |
| 10th | §910 |
| 25th | §760 |
| 50th | §510 |
| 100th | §10 |
From 4th place down it’s a simple slide: each rank is worth §10 less than the one above it. The podium is where the real jump is — 3rd pays §1,000 but 4th pays §970, so those three places are worth fighting for.
How your rank is worked out: your property is scored on its average daily visitor minutes over the last four days, and ranked against other properties in the same category only.
Two consequences worth planning around:
- You’re only competing inside your category. Rank 1 of a quiet category pays exactly the same §1,500 as rank 1 of the busiest one. If you can’t crack the top of Welcome or Money, a less crowded category may be a much cheaper route to the podium.
- It’s an average of the days you had traffic, not an average over all four. One spectacular night counts as much as four steady ones. If you’re going to throw a party, throwing one big one beats spreading it thin.
And as always — every roommate gets the full amount, not a share.
4. What your Sim earns while on a lot
Separate from the nightly bonuses, this is about money and skill your Sim gains from using objects.
Skill gameplay settings
Every property owner chooses one of three settings for their lot:
| Setting | Visitors | Owner & roommates |
|---|---|---|
| Skill Gameplay Enabled | Earn skill and money normally | Normally |
| Visitor Skills Disabled | Earn nothing from skill objects | Normally |
| Skill Gameplay Disabled | Earn nothing | Earn nothing |
“Earn nothing” means exactly that — no skill points and no simoleons from the object.
Some categories are locked out of the first option. Entertainment, Services, Romance and Welcome lots can never let visitors skill or earn from objects; the setting is forced. Money, Skills, Shopping, Games, Offbeat and Residence lots are free to enable it.
That’s the real trade-off between categories: skill and money lots let your guests earn, while welcome, service, entertainment and romance lots pay you in traffic and relationship rates instead.
A few things are never blocked by these settings, whatever the lot is set to: job payouts, door charges, Sim-to-Sim transfers, and cashing out an object that’s holding money for you — tip jars, vending and snack machines, buffets, food counters, pinball and bed hearts.
Welcome lots: double for new players
If your Sim is under 30 days old, then on a Welcome lot you gain skill twice as fast and earn double from skill objects. This beats the lot’s skill setting — it applies even on a Welcome lot where visitor skilling is otherwise off. It’s the fastest start in the game, and it disappears the day your Sim turns 30.
Romance lots: double relationships
Relationship gains on a Romance lot count twice. Every friendly or romantic interaction moves the number twice as far as it would anywhere else.
5. About Money lots specifically
A common misconception: Money lots do not take a cut of what visitors earn, and they do not multiply payouts. There is no percentage skimmed off the top for the owner anywhere in the game.
If you own a Money lot, your income is:
- Objects that collect money on your behalf — tip jars, vending machines, pinball — which you then cash out.
- Door charges, if you set one.
- The nightly visitor and Top 100 bonuses, the same §8/hour and rank payouts every other category gets.
Two objects do pay more than their face value, on any lot: the chalkboard pays 20% extra, and Paper Chase / CBU pays 50% extra.
6. Getting the most out of it
- Chase the podium, not the traffic. Traffic is the means; §1,500 a night is the end. Check which categories are thin before you commit to one.
- Fill your roommate slots. Bonuses aren’t divided — every roommate you add multiplies what the property pays out. A rank-1 lot with eight roommates pays §12,000 across the household every night.
- Keep visitors, don’t just attract them. The bonus counts hours, not arrivals. Somewhere comfortable to sit and something to do beats a busy front door.
- Sitting on your own lot does nothing. Neither your hours nor your roommates’ count for either bonus. Go visit someone else’s property; you’ll help them and lose nothing.
- Don’t break the login streak. By day 100 it’s worth §4,534 a day for about ten seconds of effort, and one missed day puts you back to §2,500.
- New Sim? Live on Welcome lots for your first 30 days. Double skill and double money is worth more than anything else available to you at that stage.
Quick answers
When exactly do the bonuses pay? The nightly calculation runs at 4 AM Eastern, and it pays out for the previous day. Money you earned today shows up tomorrow morning.
Do the bonuses get split between roommates? No. Everyone gets the full amount.
I was in the Top 100 but got nothing. Check whether the lot had roommates, and remember the payout covers the previous day — a rank you earned today pays tomorrow.
Does visiting my own property help? No. Only visitor time counts, for both the visitor bonus and your Top 100 rank.
My visitors were there for ages and I got nothing. The day’s visitor time has to total at least one full hour, and a visit only counts once it has properly ended.
Can I be in the Top 100 for more than one category? No — a property has one category and is ranked in that one only.