SpaceX’s IPO to Mint Millionaires in Poor Texas Border Town

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But Brownsville’s southern location placed it relatively close to the equator, which would give rockets launching eastward an extra energy boost from Earth’s rotation. And the gulf lay to the east, allowing rockets to take off over unpopulated water.

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As the company built out its spaceport, its employees slowly moved in. The process accelerated in 2021 when Musk posted a message to his millions of social media followers, urging people interested in joining SpaceX to move to the area. 

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“Like a light switch — that tweet goes out, and I’m getting calls from Oregon, from Washington state, from Northern California,” said Bob Torres, a lifetime Brownsville resident and real estate broker. “His tweet had that power.”

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Some of the new arrivals even snapped up big homes in the countryside that locals previously associated with the drug trade, Torres said — gigantic houses surrounded by dilapidated properties. “Back in the day, when I would see that, that would mean that’s a cartel guy,” said Torres, 67. “Now, that house is a SpaceX-related guy, or woman.”

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The newcomers, however, didn’t mingle much with longtime residents. And as the base took shape, becoming the company’s official headquarters in 2024, more of the SpaceX employees started living by the spaceport itself rather than in town. Last May, they even voted to incorporate the land around the facility as its own city, called Starbase. The company also owns a Boeing 737 that it uses to shuttle employees back and forth between Brownsville and California multiple times a week, according to Laura Sparks, an administrator at Sun Valley Aviation, a service provider at the local airport. 

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As a result, much of the money SpaceX is investing in South Texas isn’t visible in Brownsville itself. Musk in 2021 donated $20 million to the Cameron County school district and $10 million to Brownsville revitalization efforts. But many downtown storefronts, lining the ground floors of hacienda-style buildings, remain empty.

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Those in use include stores selling inexpensive clothing and household goods to Mexican shoppers. A blood plasma donation center across from City Hall attracts a steady flow of people who emerge with blue bandages on their forearms. Small groups of buskers carry guitars and accordions from one restaurant to another, playing a song or two and collecting tips. 

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And yet, a handful of businesses have sprung up to serve SpaceX employees and tourists who come to watch rocket launches. Michael Limas, a financial planner who works with multiple SpaceX clients, started a craft cocktail lounge called Las Ramblas with his brother in 2019. Since then, he’s opened other restaurants downtown, including the French-inspired Le Rêve. 

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“You get an influx of transplants coming in who have more fluency, maybe a higher expectation of cuisine, and it’s something that we felt there was an opportunity in the market,” said Limas. “From an economic perspective, there’s a unique opportunity with launches that are viewed like micro Super Bowls.”

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But not all of the restaurants are in the locals’ price range. And in a city where 94% of residents are Latino, the ethnic and racial diversity of the diners is a giveaway that they’re new, or just visiting. “To go out to a $300 dinner — that just doesn’t happen,” Torres said. “The normal Brownsvillian could not afford to go there.”

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Thousands of visitors now pack local hotels to see SpaceX rocket launches. Hȧkon Bortheim and Martina Lupocchino, tourists from Italy, chose to visit Starbase for Hȧkon’s first ever trip to the US in April — even though their visit wasn’t going to overlap with a launch. They wanted to see the facility anyway, despite the fact that SpaceX doesn’t provide public tours or even restrooms for visitors.

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“It’s f***ing awesome,” said Bortheim, as he studied a launch tower from the side of an adjacent highway. “Honestly, I don’t know what else to do in Brownsville,”

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Businesses is also picking up at the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport. Each SpaceX launch brings a surge in private aircraft traffic, said Sparks, whose company operates fuel pumps and hangar space and is upgrading both to meet demand. Sun Valley has also seen rising enrollment in its flight school, as SpaceX employees take up flying as a hobby.