Starbase officially becomes an incorporated city in Texas

Starbase, the community founded by SpaceX near the southern tip of Texas, has officially become an incorporated city, according to an announcement posted on its official social media account.

“It’s official: Starbase is now an incorporated city in Texas,” the announcement posted Tuesday said. “With local governance in place, we are excited to continue building the best city for our community.”

Starbase is located in a remote area in Cameron County, near SpaceX’s launch site in Boca Chica, along the Gulf Coast close to the U.S.-Mexico border.

In 2021, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk publicly expressed his intention to create a city named Starbase. He described it as a spaceport community built to support SpaceX’s Starship program and related aerospace ventures.

Incorporation grants the new city authority to establish its own local government, collect taxes, and manage infrastructure and planning decisions. This could give SpaceX and affiliated groups greater flexibility in developing housing, transportation, and services tied to the growing launch site.

The area has become central to SpaceX’s Starship testing and development efforts, which are key to the company’s goals of reaching the Moon and Mars. The site also attracts increasing numbers of space enthusiasts and tourists.