Is The Community Center Or Joja Route Cheaper In Stardew Valley

 

I love stardew valley if that was not obvious. And when I do random different runs I tend to do the Joja route so I do not have to think about all the stuff especially since some require things that might not go along with my runs like building buildings or having specific plants and animals. I know most people like to stick with the community center for moral reasons and on my main farm I did take the community center route and if I ever do any more serious runs I will absolutely do that, but for more fun and specific routes, I prefer the easiness of the Joja route. I have also always been told the community center route is cheaper because you just do stuff and you get free stuff and such. But I wanted to actually crunch the numbers and see the bare minimum of what you need to spend to complete the community center. I did the absolute bare minimum and with multiple options, I did the cheapest one and when going down the list if something became easier then I deleted previous ideas. This list does not include anything that does not cost money nor does it include if you get lucky to find something with a mob drop or the traveling kart. It might be a bit cheaper if you can find items that way without having to upgrade things and such but this is if you buy everything you need. I took everything into consideration that some others might not. Yes, you do upgrade as you play but these things are required to finish the game. 

Joja Route: 

5,000g for membership

40,000g for the bus repair 

25,000g for bridge

20,000g for panning

15,000g for minecarts

35,000g for greenhouse 

140,000g total

Community Center Route:

2,000g for the copper ax for hardwood

60g for green bean starters

80g for cauliflower seeds

50 for potatoes seeds

50g for tomato seed

40g for hot pepper seed

80g for blueberry seed

80g for melon seed x5

150g for corn starter 

20g for eggplant seed

100g for pumpkin starter x5

60g for yam seeds

6,000g for barn

12,000g for barn upgrade

1,500g for cow

4,000g for coop

10,000 for coop upgrade

800g for chicken x2

4,000g for goat 

1,200g for duck

25,000 barn upgrade

16,000 for pig

50g for poppy seeds

200g for rice

10,000 for farmhouse upgrade

200g for sunflower seeds

100g for red cabbage

10g for wheat x10

4,000g for apple sapling

6,000g for pomegranate seed

2,500 bundle

5,000g bundle

10,000g bundle

25,000g bundle

149,752g total

As you can see in conclusion though the community route is morally right, the Joja route is actually cheaper even though it doesn't seem like it at the time. Take this into consideration when doing some runs of the game. Another thing I decided to calculate is how long minimum it would take to build all of these things and how many days you need to at least wait. For the Joja route, you have to wait a minimum of 6 days for each repair as well as the old community center being made into a Joja Wearhouse. While with all the upgrades you need, the community center you need to wait at least 23 days just for the upgrades and buildings not even considering you need to wait until winter to complete it while the Joja route can be completed at any time, as long as you have the money. In my opinion, the Joja route is better in almost every way.