How to Get a 5 Star City Rating in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Achieving the desired five-star city rating in Animal Crossing: New Horizons isn't easy, but here are a few tips to help you achieve the desired achievement.
The Animal Crossing series has always had a "Perfect" rating in which fans strive to reach the best city. In the GameCube version, if the status has been maintained for 15 days, players will receive a Golden Axe. In Wild World and City Folk, it was the Golden Watering Can, and in New Leaf, you also got the Flower Clock.
New Horizons replaces the ideal city status with an island rating where you have to get a star rating, but it's pretty much the same. Isabelle will reward you with a gold DIY watering can once you reach that, so it's definitely worth trying to get a perfect score.
How to get a five-star rating in New Horizons
In order to rank up your island, you need to make sure that your city is as polished and attractive to visitors as possible. A good base point is to make sure you remove all weeds, debris, and discarded items from the ground as this can greatly impact your status. You also need to make sure you have at least nine villagers.
The Able Sisters Museum and Shop must also be built, and you will need to upgrade your island's infrastructure - AKA build ramps and bridges to make it easier for residents and visitors to move around.
Trees will also need to be added by planting seedlings bought from Nook's Cranny and planting fruit - although your city should not have more than 220 of them, otherwise it will negatively affect the rating, so be a strategist if you plan to create a forest. Planting lots of flowers will also help.
Finally, decorating your city is what will have the most impact on your score and can mean the difference between a four to five star rating. You will need to place not only the purchased furniture, but also the things that you have made according to DIY recipes.
Do all of that and Isabelle should reward you with this coveted 5-star achievement, which will also earn you a DIY gold watering can and Lily of the Valley flowers will start spawning randomly around your island.