Elon Musk has enough money to buy almost any house he wants. He just doesn’t seem particularly interested in having one.
The Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX (SPCX) CEO briefly became the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX went public in June 2026, with his fortune reaching roughly $1.3 trillion at its peak. Musk's net worth has since fallen below the $1 trillion mark, but he remains the world’s richest person with a fortune of around $940 billion according to Forbes.
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Elon Musk has long described his home near SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, as remarkably modest. In 2021, he said he rented the roughly $50,000 house from SpaceX.
“My primary home is literally a ~$50k house in Boca Chica / Starbase that I rent from SpaceX. It’s kinda awesome though,” Musk wrote on X on June 9, 2021.
He also said the only house he owned at the time was an events property in the Bay Area.
The decision to live simply wasn’t because Musk couldn’t afford something bigger. It was part of a broader decision to get rid of much of what he owned. In 2020, when announcing plans to sell most of his physical possessions, Musk explained that he didn’t see much value in accumulating things.
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“Possessions kind of weigh you down,” Musk said during an appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
“They’re kind of an attack vector, you know? People say, ‘Hey, billionaire, you’ve got all this stuff.’ Well, now I don’t have stuff. Now what are you going to do?”
That helps put the Boca Chica house in context. Musk’s wealth is largely tied to his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX rather than sitting around as cash, but his decision to live in a modest home isn’t a matter of being unable to afford a mansion. It’s a choice that fits with his long-running view that owning less means having fewer things to worry about.
His Mom Sleeps in the Garage
Maye Musk has offered her own glimpse into the arrangement. When she visits Elon Musk at Starbase, she said she sleeps in the garage.
“If I have a couch or a mattress on the floor, then I’m good,” Maye Musk told the New York Post in an interview published Sept. 15, 2026.
“Sleeping on the floor — there’s a roof over your head. That’s a luxury,” she said.
It’s not the first time Maye Musk has described the sparse conditions. Earlier this year, she also spoke about visiting her son in Boca Chica and sleeping in the garage, offering a look at just how stripped-down the setup can be.
For most people, a garage isn’t exactly the first choice for overnight guests. But Starbase is a working SpaceX facility, and Maye Musk has made clear that she doesn’t need much when she’s staying with her son.
Billionaire Money, Minimalist Living
The contrast is hard to miss.
Musk went from living in a home he described as costing roughly $50,000 to becoming the first person whose estimated fortune crossed $1 trillion. His wealth has since dropped below that level, but at around $940 billion, the difference between his bank balance and his living arrangements remains enormous.
That’s really the point Elon Musk has made about his possessions for years. The man can afford an extraordinary house. He simply doesn’t seem to think having one is necessary.
For someone who has spent much of his career trying to build rockets, electric cars, and artificial intelligence (AI) systems capable of changing entire industries, a small place near the factory apparently does the job.
On the date of publication, Caleb Naysmith did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.