It’s official: SpaceX has its own company town on the southern tip of Texas despite concerns that it would expand the company’s control of the area.
Residents living near SpaceX’s launch site, the majority of whom are company employees, voted in favor of turning Starbase into its own city. It was a sweeping win for SpaceX, with 212 voting in favor of the rocket city and six against, according to the Cameron County Elections Department.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has long dreamed of turning Starbase into its own city, and the billionaire celebrated on X by announcing, “Now, it is official.” Musk first pitched the idea of a Starbase city in 2021, and the company has since expanded its presence with housing and other facilities.
A report issued by Treviño’s office in June stated that more than 3,400 SpaceX employees and contractors have set up shop around the base in the past few years. Earlier last year, SpaceX also announced plans to open a $15 million shopping center and restaurant.
In December 2024, more than 70 county residents submitted a petition to request an election regarding the decision to make Starbase its own municipality. Most of the residents, however, are believed to be SpaceX employees, according to the petition obtained by AP.
The city spans about 1.6 square miles (3.9 square kilometers) and is home to roughly 500 nearby residents, according to the BBC. SpaceX began buying land in the area in 2012, when the company wasn’t nearly as influential as it is today.
Starbase will have its own mayor, Bobby Peden, SpaceX’s vice president, and two commissioners. It is designated as a Type-C city, a municipality with less than 5,000 residents.
SpaceX’s rocket launches have already been disruptive to the local community, and the establishment of Starbase as a city may increase the company’s municipal authority and allow it to overstep regulatory red tape designed to protect its surrounding environment.
In July 2024, the Center for Biological Diversity, American Bird Conservancy, and other conservation groups filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration, alleging that it rushed SpaceX’s Starship permitting process without adequate environmental review or mitigation requirements. SpaceX is also facing fines of almost $150,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency for allegedly illegally dumping pollutants into a Texas waterway without a permit.
SpaceX could also have control over highway and beach closures in the area. Texas lawmakers filed a bill on March 14 that would grant SpaceX control over road and beach closures for its rocket activities. Although the bill, filed by two Republican senators, does not mention SpaceX by name, it refers to counties with spaceports and beach access “bordering on the Gulf of Mexico or its tidewater limits.”
Local officials are generally in favor of SpaceX for generating jobs in the area and drawing spectators for its rocket launches, but the company’s investment in southern Texas may come at a price.
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