The Sims 4 City Living

The Sims 4 City Living Expansion Pack

The Sims 4: City Living is the third expansion pack ever released for The Sims 4, arriving as the game’s third major paid DLC after Get to Work and Get Together. Developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts, City Living launched in North America on November 1, 2016, and in Europe two days later, on November 3, 2016. It draws inspiration from earlier Sims titles such as The Sims 2: Apartment Life, The Sims 3: Late Night, The Sims 2: Nightlife, The Sims 3: World Adventures, The Sims 3: Showtime, and The Sims 3: Seasons.

Coming almost a year after Get Together introduced Windenburg and the Clubs system, City Living was the pack that finally brought big-city apartment living to The Sims 4 — trading suburban lots for high-rise balconies, noisy neighbors, and a skyline full of festival fireworks. It remains one of the most requested expansion themes in the franchise’s history, and San Myshuno is still considered one of the liveliest worlds in the game.

The Sims 4 City Living at a Glance

• New World: San Myshuno (4 neighborhoods: Fashion District, Arts Quarter, Uptown, Spice Market, plus Myshuno Meadows for festivals)
• New Living Type: Rentable apartments and penthouses
• New System: Lot Traits and Festivals
• New Skills: Singing, Photography
• New Careers: Politician, Social Media, Critic
• New NPC: The Landlord
• New Objects: Talking toilet, game consoles, karaoke machines, murals

New Features in The Sims 4 City Living Expansion Pack

City Living’s central theme is urban density — packing Sims into a vertical, multicultural city and giving them new reasons to interact with neighbors, strangers, and the streets themselves. The expansion introduced several headline features that reshaped how players approached city-style gameplay in The Sims 4.

San Myshuno: A City Built From the World’s Great Metropolises

The pack’s new world, San Myshuno, blends visual and cultural influences from cities like New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Shanghai, layering in Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Moroccan touches throughout its streets and food carts. Rather than the sprawling residential lots seen elsewhere in The Sims 4, San Myshuno is built vertically: apartment towers and penthouses rise above four distinct neighborhoods — the graffiti-covered Arts Quarter, the upscale Fashion District, the pricey but scenic Uptown, and the budget-friendly Spice Market — with a fifth area, Myshuno Meadows, serving as the city’s festival grounds. It’s a dense, colorful, constantly-moving backdrop, with traffic passing in the distance and Sims crossing the streets, that gives The Sims 4 a genuine big-city atmosphere for the first time.

San Myshuno Lots Details

How Apartment Living Works in City Living

Apartments are the defining addition of City Living, and they were one of the most requested features in the franchise since The Sims 2: Apartment Life. San Myshuno offers 21 rentable apartment units spread across its neighborhoods, plus three exclusive penthouses:

• Rent an apartment instead of buying a house outright — ideal for new households that don’t want to sink all their starting funds into property
• Choose from units with their own Lot Traits, such as a Chef’s Kitchen, Fast Internet Connection, or the considerably less welcome Infested with Gnomes
• Deal with the new Landlord NPC, who checks in periodically and expects rent to be paid on time
• Put up with noisy neighbors, cramped shared hallways, and communal amenities that come with city living
• Move into one of three private penthouses, accessible only by elevator, for Sims who want the city view without the neighbors

The system works differently from a traditional Sims 4 lot: players can’t construct an apartment building from scratch, but they can renovate and decorate individual units, giving City Living a distinct rhythm compared to freeform suburban building.

Festivals: San Myshuno’s Ever-Changing Street Life

City Living brought festivals back to the series for the first time since The Sims 3: Seasons, and San Myshuno hosts five of them on a rotating two-week cycle across its neighborhoods:

• The Humor and Hijinks Festival, where Sims can side with comedy or mischief
• The Romance Festival, built around flirting and matchmaking
• The Spice Festival, a celebration of street food (including the notoriously risky pufferfish sushi)
• GeekCon, packing in video game tournaments, cosplay, and even a rocket ship ride
• The Flea Market, focused on shopping and collectibles

Bulletin boards and street signs around the city let Sims know when and where the next festival is happening, and players get a direct travel option straight to the action — a small touch that keeps San Myshuno feeling busy rather than empty between events.

New Careers & Skills in The Sims 4 City Living

City Living adds three new active and part-time career tracks that fit neatly into the city theme:

• Politician, climbing the ranks of city government
• Social Media, building an online following as an Internet Personality or Vlogger
• Critic, reviewing food, film, or fashion around town

Two new skills round things out: Singing, which lets Sims perform karaoke, sing in the shower, or serenade a love interest, and Photography, which lets Sims capture and sell photos of San Myshuno’s skyline and street life.

Build Mode and Other Additions

The expansion adds a wave of new build and buy items with a distinctly modern, urban look, plus a handful of memorable smaller additions:

• Murals, tied to the Painting skill, letting Sims create street art anywhere in the city — and just as easily deface someone else’s
• Basketball hoops, giving Sims a new way to build the Athletic skill outdoors
• Game consoles, which support up to four Sims playing together at once
• The talking toilet, an infamous, purely comedic object that speaks its mind

The Sims 4 City Living – All New Build Mode Items

City Living’s new items lean into a bright, modern urban aesthetic — think karaoke machines, street food stalls, city-style furniture, and colorful apartment décor built to make small spaces feel lived-in.

The Sims 4 City Living – All New CAS Items

City Living’s Create-a-Sim additions draw heavily on the pack’s multicultural inspiration, adding trendy hairstyles, headscarves, and clothing influenced by cultures from across the globe. From festival-ready outfits to everyday streetwear, the collection gives Sims of nearly every age a wardrobe that fits San Myshuno’s vibrant, diverse identity — CAS is widely considered one of the strongest parts of the whole pack.

The Sims 4 City Living Reviews & Player Feedback

City Living was warmly received upon release. Players and critics praised the vibrant San Myshuno atmosphere, the return of festivals, and the expanded Create-a-Sim (CAS) options. However, some noted that the Build Mode features felt limited compared to the pack’s overall ambition.

Years later, City Living continues to be ranked among the stronger expansion packs in the series. It is frequently cited as the one that finally made urban life feel authentic in The Sims 4, moving beyond a simple nightlife backdrop to deliver cultural diversity and a genuine city-living experience.

Is The Sims 4 City Living Worth Buying?

For players who want to trade suburban house-building for the energy of apartment life — juggling rent, nosy landlords, and neighbors, while chasing festivals and building a diverse Sim wardrobe — City Living remains one of the most distinctive and atmospheric expansions in The Sims 4 lineup. Its combination of a richly themed new world, an entirely new way to live (renting instead of owning), and a steady stream of festival content makes it a strong pick for anyone looking to bring some big-city chaos into their game.