Elon Musk has his eye on Texas and says that he wants to form a whole new municipality for his SpaceX employees. The enigmatic and polarizing billionaire’s staff want to take over a section of coastal South Texas in Cameron County and have already submitted a petition to form a town called Starbase. The approval will have to come down to a vote where the majority of county residents will need to be in favor of establishing a SpaceX municipality.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX employees want a whole municipality in their name
Trust Elon Musk to go where no company owner has ever gone before. He and his SpaceX employees may soon become the first staff base to rise up in favor of forming their own town. It’s clear that they’re quite serious, as they already have a proposed local government led by a SpaceX security employee as Mayor of Starbase.
The area of Texas targeted as the site for Starbase is already home to SpaceX’s rocket launch facilities. Musk has been relocating his operations from California to Texas over several years and his facilities are now spread across several counties.
The establishment of the Starbase town was conceived years ago
Musk started envisioning the town of Starbase years back, but a recent influx of SpaceX employees moving into homes and temporary housing near the launch site has seen the plan being accelerated. Previous delays were due in part to Texas laws requiring a minimum number of residents and a majority of voter support to establish a new municipality.
SpaceX workers living in Cameron County filed an official petition in January 2025 to hold an election on incorporation later in the month. The document proposes the initial plans for the town and if they translate into reality, Musk will have created history again.
Kathryn Lueders, Starbase’s general manager, put forward in a letter to the county:
“Incorporating Starbase will streamline the processes required to build the amenities necessary to make the area a world-class place to live – for the hundreds already calling it home, as well as for prospective workers eager to help build humanity’s future in space.”
Elon Musk had to turn his attention away from Starbase recently and apologize to a bunch of new Tesla owners for the late delivery of their vehicles. But it was for a good reason. A fleet of Cybertrucks was dispatched to one of the regions of California most affected by the LA fires to provide support.
SpaceX employees already have a mayor in mind
If the necessary voter support is received in the election, voters will be allowed to name three city officials. SpaceX’s security manager, Gunnar Milburn, has already been proposed as the town’s first mayor.
There are more details contained in the petition, which outlines a community of roughly 500 residents. These include 219 primary residents and over 100 children. The proposed location, covering about 1.5 square miles, is near Boca Chica Beach at the end of State Highway 4.
The proposed town is considered small by Texas standards, and most residents will be renters who are employed by SpaceX. If approved, Starbase will be able to establish its own police and fire departments and enact its own ordinances.
Is there a bigger plan behind establishing a SpaceX municipality in Texas?
The petition says nothing about Musk and his SpaceX employees’ intentions in pursuing the creation of Starbase or what benefits they aim to achieve by setting up a mini-government in Texas.
The area in Cameron County may not be the only target that Musk is considering. It’s possible that he’s also looking at housing employees in a development near the town of Bastrop, close to Austin.
The region is home to a growing company training campus and a manufacturing plant for SpaceX. The headquarters of the Boring Company, which is creating tunneling technology, are also located there. Soon, offices for the social media platform X (previously called Twitter), will be built. Perhaps the State of Texas will incorporate two Musk municipalities one day.
Elon Musk has been asking for all sorts of permission from the administration lately. He was recently shut down after asking the Department of Transportation for $100 million towards setting up a big-rig electric charging network stretching from California to Texas and the answer was no.