Elon Musk’s Starbase becomes an official city in Texas: All you need to know

Elon Musk’s “Starbase” has now officially become a city in South Texas and it’s mostly populated by SpaceX employees.

Billionaire Musk has realised the first step towards his dream of creating a futuristic city that is entirely devoted to the mission of space exploration.

On Saturday (3 May), the residents of the unincorporated community of Boca Chica Village in South Texas voted to approve the incorporation of Starbase, Texas.

The community is inhabited predominantly by employees of Musk’s company SpaceX as the company has a growing presence in southern Texas, building, testing and launching its technology – especially the Starship rocket, which Musk hopes will transport people to Mars one day.

According to Cameron County, the election results were 212 votes in favour and six against the formation of the city of Starbase, Texas.

In a short but celebratory post on X/Twitter, Musk wrote: “Starbase, Texas is now a real city!”

Following the vote, a new X/Twitter account for the city was created and its first post was shared by the official SpaceX account.

It said: “Becoming a city will help us continue building the best community possible for the men and women building the future of humanity’s place in space.”

Boca Chica Village, now Starbase, is a 1.5-square-mile area of coastal land close to the US border with Mexico.

It has been the principal launch site of SpaceX’s starship and much of the area’s infrastructure is being run by the company, including roads, utilities, schooling, and medical care for employees, according to a letter penned by SpaceX’s general manager Kathryn Lueders to local officials back in 2024, asking for a vote that would formally establish the city, arguing there was a need to “grow Starbase as a community.”

But, now that Musk’s company has got its way, critics fear that its desire to ramp up rocket launches from five to 25 per year, along with increasing its infrastructure in order to do so, may lead to issues such as diminished public powers and frequent beach closures down the line.

It is reported that 36-year-old Robert “Bobby” Peden, SpaceX’s vice-president of Texas Test and Launch, will serve as the city’s mayor.

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