Elon Musk’s primary residence is a 375-square-foot Boxabl Casita he rents near SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. The prefabricated home reportedly cost around $50,000. He also uses a family compound in Austin worth close to $35 million and still holds one estate in Hillsborough, California.
Most people who reach a net worth close to $900 billion buy bigger houses, not smaller ones. Elon Musk did the opposite. In 2020, he told his followers he would sell almost everything he owned, including his homes, and he largely kept that promise.
Today the world’s richest man splits his time between a tiny prefabricated house on the Texas coast and a family compound outside Austin. This guide walks through where he lives now, what his current home actually looks like, and every property tied to his name over the past decade.
Elon Musk House Location in 2026
Musk’s main address sits in Boca Chica Village, a small community in Cameron County, Texas, right next to SpaceX’s Starbase launch site. He confirmed the arrangement himself in a 2021 post, writing that “my primary home is literally a ~$50k house in Boca Chica / Starbase that I rent from SpaceX.”
The location was not chosen for luxury. It puts him a short walk from the rocket testing pads where Starship development happens, so he can move between his living space and his work without a commute. Reporters from the New York Times later confirmed the property is a foldable, factory-built unit rather than a traditional house.
Inside the Boxabl Casita Home
The house itself is a “Boxabl Casita,” a mass-produced dwelling built by a Las Vegas startup called Boxabl. It measures 20 feet by 20 feet, giving it a footprint of 400 square feet, with reports describing a studio-style layout: one large room split into a living area and a bedroom, a full kitchen, and a bathroom with a tub/shower.
The unit ships flat and unfolds on site in about an hour. Boxabl says the structure uses steel, concrete, and foam panels instead of wood, which the company markets as more resistant to fire, flooding, and pests than a standard framed house.
A few details about the Casita stand out:
- Size: 400 square feet, roughly the size of a two-car garage
- Cost: Approximately $50,000 at the base model price
- Layout: One open room divided into kitchen, living space, and sleeping area
- Materials: Steel frame, concrete panels, and EPS foam insulation
- Setup time: Around one hour once delivered to the site
Boxabl has never officially confirmed the unit belongs to Musk, and the company keeps his specific address private for security reasons given its location next to an active rocket facility.
Why Musk Sold His California Mansions
Before the move to Texas, Musk owned a cluster of properties in the Los Angeles area, including several homes in the Bel Air neighbourhood of Chalon Road and a boomerang-shaped house in Brentwood that he bought for just under $3.7 million in 2014. He sold that Brentwood property in 2019 for $3.9 million, ahead of his broader sell-off the following year.
In May 2020, Musk announced he would sell nearly all of his physical possessions, saying he would “own no house.” The combined asking price for seven of his California homes topped $100 million at the time, according to Architectural Digest’s later reporting.
Musk gave one condition on the sale of a smaller Bel Air home that once belonged to actor Gene Wilder. He asked buyers not to alter its character during renovations. That request suggests his minimalism was about reducing his own footprint rather than treating every property the same way.
Elon Musk House Portfolio Through the Years
Musk’s real estate history spans far more than the current Texas setup. A rough timeline of his known properties includes the following:
- Bel Air, California (Chalon Road area): Several homes purchased over the years, sold off in 2020 as part of his possessions sale.
- Brentwood, California: A boomerang-shaped house bought for $3.7 million in 2014, sold in 2019.
- Hillsborough, California: A roughly 100-year-old mansion on 47 acres near San Francisco, reportedly the only house Musk still owns outright.
- Boca Chica, Texas: The Boxabl Casita he currently rents from SpaceX.
- Austin, Texas: A family compound purchased in 2024 to house his children and some of their mothers.
That last entry has drawn the most recent attention, so it is worth its own explanation. Before that, though, the Hillsborough property deserves a closer look, since it is the one home Musk has kept through every round of selling.
The Hillsborough Estate in Northern California
Unlike the Bel Air and Brentwood homes, Musk never sold his estate in Hillsborough, an affluent town on the San Francisco Peninsula. The property sits on roughly 47 acres and includes a mansion built close to a century ago, along with nine bedrooms, nine and a half bathrooms, hiking trails, a reservoir, and a ballroom.
Musk has said the home mainly serves as a venue for events rather than daily living space. In his own words, he called it the “events house,” explaining that selling it would likely mean less overall use unless a large family bought it outright. That framing fits the same logic behind his other housing decisions: keep only what actually gets used.
The Hillsborough property also puts him close to the Bay Area, where several of his ventures, including a stretch of Tesla’s engineering operations and Neuralink, have maintained a presence. Even after Tesla’s headquarters officially moved to Austin in 2021, Musk kept ties to Northern California through this one remaining estate.
The Austin Family Compound Explained
In October 2024, the New York Times reported that Musk had quietly bought two properties in the West Lake Hills area outside Austin for a combined value near $35 million. One is a 14,400-square-foot villa built in a Tuscan style. The other is a six-bedroom mansion situated directly behind it.
According to the Times, the goal was to house Musk’s children and some of their mothers close together so the kids could grow up around each other. Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis, who shares three children with Musk, reportedly moved into the compound not long after the purchase closed. Sellers were required to sign non-disclosure agreements before negotiations began, and Musk reportedly paid well above market value to secure the properties quickly.
For comparison, other public figures have taken very different approaches to family real estate. Fox host Sean Hannity’s house sits on a single large estate rather than a cluster of connected properties, while Disney executive Bob Iger’s house follows a more conventional single residence model.
Elon Musk Net Worth Versus His Housing Choices
The gap between Musk’s wealth and his living situation is part of what keeps the story in the news. As of early September 2026, Forbes places his real-time net worth at roughly $908 billion, driven mainly by his stakes in SpaceX and Tesla. That figure has swung wildly through the year, climbing more than $200 billion in August 2026 alone after SpaceX and Tesla shares both rallied.
Even after briefly crossing the trillion-dollar mark following SpaceX’s public listing in June 2026, Musk has kept the same basic housing setup: a rented tiny home in Texas and a family compound he uses rather than a personal mansion. Wealth managers who study ultra-high-net-worth individuals often point out that housing choices like this are less about affordability and more about signalling priorities, since a $50,000 rental is a rounding error against a fortune of this size.
Real estate stories involving high-profile figures do not always stay this straightforward. Some, like the case involving the Menendez brothers’ house, become tied to events far removed from architecture or design. Musk’s situation, by contrast, has stayed focused on lifestyle choices rather than legal history.
What the Elon Musk House Says About Billionaire Living
Musk is not the only billionaire to downsize on paper, but he is one of the most visible. Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckerberg has gone the opposite direction, buying up neighbouring properties in Palo Alto for privacy. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns multiple large estates across the country. Musk’s choice to rent a prefabricated home stands out against that backdrop.
Part of the appeal seems practical. Living steps away from Starbase means Musk can walk to a rocket test instead of driving or flying in. Part of it also fits the persona he has built around efficiency and low overhead, themes he has repeated across interviews and social media posts for years.
Whether the arrangement continueslong-termm is unclear. Musk has changed his properties before, and the 2024 Austin purchase shows he is willing to invest heavily in real estate again when family needs call for it. For now, the Boca Chica house remains the answer whenever someone asks where the world’s richest man actually sleeps at night.
Renting Versus Owning: Musk’s Unusual Approach
One detail that often gets lost in coverage of the Elon Musk house story is the rental structure itself. Most high-profile executives who scale back their real estate still buy something, even if it is smaller than before. Musk instead rents his primary home directly from SpaceX, a company he leads and holds a large ownership stake in.
That setup blurs the usual line between personal and business property. Renting from his own company means Musk avoids tying up personal capital in real estate near an active industrial site, while still keeping guaranteed access to housing right next to his work. Corporate governance experts have occasionally flagged this kind of arrangement as worth watching, since it involves a company providing housing to its own chief executive, though nothing about the Boca Chica rental has drawn formal scrutiny.
The Austin compound works differently. Those properties are not leased through any of Musk’s companies; reporting from The New York Times and The Real Deal describes them as personal purchases made specifically to house his family. That distinction matters for anyone trying to map out which of his properties count as personal assets and which are closer to workplace amenities.
How the Elon Musk House Compares to Other Billionaires
Seen next to other members of the world’s wealthiest circle, Musk’s setup looks unusual on paper but makes more sense in context. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both Google cofounders, own extensive properties across Hawaii and California. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos holds a portfolio that includes estates in Washington state, Beverly Hills, and Washington, D.C.
Musk’s combined real estate footprint, a rented tiny home, one inherited estate in Hillsborough, and a family compound in Austin, is modest by comparison, even though his net worth regularly exceeds theirs. Financial commentators tracking billionaire spending patterns have pointed out that housing tends to make up a smaller share of Musk’s public profile than his stock holdings, private jets, or company spending, which suggests real estate simply is not where he chooses to direct attention or capital.
Elon Musk House FAQs
Where does Elon Musk currently live?
His primary residence is a rented Boxabl Casita near SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
Does Elon Musk own any house at all?
He has said his only owned property is an estate in Hillsborough, California. Everything else, including the Boca Chica home, is rented or held through other arrangements.
How much did Elon Musk’s tiny house cost?
Reports place the cost of the Boxabl Casita at approximately $50,000, based on the company’s base model pricing.
Why did Elon Musk sell his mansions in 2020?
He announced he was selling nearly all of his physical possessions, stating he wanted to “own no house,” and followed through by selling several California properties that year.
What is the Austin compound Elon Musk bought?
It is a pair of properties in West Lake Hills, Texas, worth about $35 million combined, purchased in 2024 to house his children and some of their mothers.
