SpaceX's IPO to Generate Wealth for Residents in Texas Border Community

SpaceX's Rise in Brownsville, Texas: A Tale of Boom and Bust

In the southernmost tip of Texas, a 45-minute drive down a narrow highway separates one of America's poorest border cities from the heart of Elon Musk's SpaceX empire. Brownsville, Texas, has undergone a significant transformation since the private aerospace giant moved in a decade ago, building a bustling spaceport nearby on the Gulf of Mexico shore.

The influx of new money into Brownsville has created both winners and losers, a dynamic that is likely to be amplified when SpaceX goes public this summer. The company's initial public offering, aiming to raise about $75 billion, will mint millionaires among the company's more than 3,000 local employees. Brownsville civic and business leaders are trying to make this more of a blessing than a curse for their once-sleepy city.

According to Mayor John Cowen, a sixth-generation resident of the area, "There was a little bit of a shock to the system, but I think it's stabilized. I think people are, for the most part, very appreciative of them being here, and we're excited about the growth that we're seeing."

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Cowen is particularly hopeful about other industrial projects coming to the area in SpaceX's wake, which he attributes to the company's "aura" of innovation and success. In 2023, construction began on a 984-acre liquefied natural gas export terminal near the Port of Brownsville. President Donald Trump this March announced the development of a $300-billion oil refinery at the port, which could bring 500 full-time jobs. There's even talk of a possible shipbuilding facility to make autonomous vessels for the US Navy.

Such projects would have seemed pipe dreams twenty years ago. "It's an amazing time for the city of Brownsville to be known as a place for investment, for innovation, for opportunity," Cowen said.

Brownsville's fortunes turned again in 2014, when SpaceX broke ground on its launch facility at a beachfront site nearby. The company's employees slowly moved in, and 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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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.

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.

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.

However, 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," said Bob Torres, a lifetime Brownsville resident and real estate broker.

The newcomers, however, haven't mingled 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.

One of the company's biggest economic impacts, however, has been on the housing market — in ways both good and bad. Local developers are scrambling to keep up with demand. Joel Loera, who runs an industrial staffing company, began developing residential real estate several years ago and is finishing construction on a subdivision a short drive from Starbase, with another planned across the street. More than 80% of the buyers for his properties have ties to SpaceX or the other new industrial projects popping up in the area, he estimated.

But the price of housing is rising fast, even as construction ramps up. From 2014 to 2025, the median sale price for Cameron County homes more than doubled, rising 125% to $254,000, according to data from Texas A&M University's Real Estate Research Center. As of last year, 37% of homes that changed hands sold for more than $300,000, up from 8% in 2014.

Those prices are a steal for most newcomers but threaten to squeeze out longtime residents whose salaries haven't kept up. "Everyone's rent has gone up — my rent is up by $200 a month," said Bekah Hinojosa, a local artist and community organizer, who said SpaceX employees are buying up Brownsville's nicest neighborhoods.

For all of SpaceX's effect on the area, it's still possible to live in Brownsville without feeling much of the company's impact — at least until another rocket roars into space.