Imagine owning one of the most successful car companies on the planet and still choosing to sleep in a small and generic apartment that costs less than many luxury vehicles. This is the reality for the world’s richest man, who has reportedly swapped massive mansions for a modest lifestyle in a remote part of South Texas.
Even when most people expect a billionaire to live in a palace with endless staff, recent details suggest a much simpler living arrangement for Elon Musk. His mother, Maye Musk, has shared a rare look into her son’s home near the SpaceX launch site; revealing a living space that prioritizes work and efficiency over comfort or status.
Inside the billionaire’s minimalist guest room
Maye Musk, Elon Musk’s mother quoted a post that gave netizens an intimate look at the billionaire’s living situation. The post capturing Musk’s preference for frugality was aptly captioned, “Elon Musk’s house in Boca Chica, Texas. No fancy things, only what’s essential for living”, the home itself is a small, 375-square-foot prefab house worth roughly $50,000, according to Musk himself who shared this via a reply on X previously.
The Musk matriarch recently shared her full experience on her son’s website X to give people a better sense of her son’s daily life. She posted: “There is no food in the fridge. The garage where I slept is on the right. The shower only has one towel so I left it for Elon. That was okay with me. When I was a child, I’d spend three weeks in the Kalahari Desert without showering. Many times. There was no water. I think my parents prepared me for this luxury.”
According to the Business Insider, the studio apartment is a Boxabl ‘Casita’ where each home is roughly 20 by 20 foot which mathematically totals 400 square feet on the exterior. However, once the thickness of the walls and the internal layout is accounted for, the actual usable living space is generally reported as 375 square feet. The unit was installed on SpaceX ground zero in Texas for Elon Musk, according to Inhabitat. The tech leader rents this apartment from his own space company.
The childhood lessons of the Kalahari
While some find these living conditions unusual, Maye Musk believes her own past prepared her for such a spartan environment while also influencing her son’s austerity. In May 2020, the billionaire announced a plan to sell off almost all of his physical belongings, famously tweeting: “I am selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no house.” He later explained in an interview with Joe Rogan that he felt possessions were becoming a distraction and even an ‘attack vector’ for people to criticize his wealth.
He mentioned that by having no stuff,’ he removes the ability for critics to target his billionaire status through his material property, asking rhetorically: “Well, now I don’t have stuff, what are you going to do?”
A strategy of functional living
The decision to live in such a small house is also practical, as it keeps him close to the facility where the Starship rocket is being developed. As per the Realtor.com, a Boxabl Casita is a modular unit designed for quick setup and high efficiency. This choice shows a preference for speed and utility over the traditional trappings of wealth seen in other elite neighborhoods.
By rejecting the standard billionaire lifestyle, he is trying to prove that his main interest is his work rather than material gain. Even though he could afford any mansion in the world, he continues to stay in his rental, treating it more like a temporary camp than a permanent residence. For a person who spends most of his time working on future technologies, a $50,000 house in a quiet corner of Texas seems to provide exactly what he needs: a place to sleep and a clear mind.