Featured Image Credit: GABRIEL CARDENAS / Contributor / Getty
Elon Musk is bringing back the company town in America with 'Starbase' - a SpaceX headquarters that employees can call home - and alongside houses, there are plans for some major facilities to be built.
Japanese car manufacturer Toyota only recently began construction on its own company town named 'Woven City', where engineers can perform fascinating experiments. Elon Musk has now joined the fray with a SpaceX city that has been 13 years in the making.
Having initially begun purchasing land in 2012 to build a rocket launch facility for his private space agency, Musk has now officially turned the headquarters into a town of its own, and aims to add a number of key facilities to supplement each resident's life.
Musk initially outlined his plans for the city - named 'Starbase' - back in December last year, submitting a request to form a base around SpaceX's launch site headquarters in Boca Chica, Cameron Country, Texas. Earlier in May 2025, he finally won a vote to officially establish the area as his own city.
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The vote passed with an overwhelming majority, with 212 out of 218 votes passing Starbase into existence, and the city has already established its own mayor in the form of SpaceX vice president Bobby Peden.
As reported by UNILAD, Starbase will stretch around 1.6 square miles in total, although Musk does own areas beyond the limits of the city that are used for things like SpaceX testing sites, but it could also suggest plans for expansion in the future.
Within the city itself though, there are already a number of major facilities, most prominently so far being Ad Astra, which is a school initially set up by Musk for his own children that has now been opened up to students aged 10 to 14.
Around 300 children currently attend the school, and it is also partnered with the experimental online educational program Astra Nova.
Alongside Ad Astra, Musk has also made a number of changes to the pre-existing area of Boca Chica, renaming streets such as Weems Street to 'Memes Street', and also adding a 12-foot sculpture of his own head, if you ever needed to be reminded who's in power.
Other facilities currently in the works are employee housing, which you have to imagine is the primary goal of the new SpaceX-centered city, and even a sushi restaurant to cater to the desires of anyone who chooses to live in the company town.
It's not without its detractors, as local residents have expressed their concerns that Musk's plans pose a danger to local wildlife and the surrounding environment, and also remain frustrated that Starbase could make it more difficult to access high-traffic areas like the nearby Boca Chica Beach.
"Nice private beach since the town will prevent public access," writes one comment on Reddit. "No EPA to protect you. Good luck because you own it with your vote."
Another joked: "Who'd have guessed the real world Severance would take place in Texas," referencing the hit Apple TV+ show, which many consider to be dystopian in its portrayal of future working conditions.
