Elon Musk says SpaceX is running into an unexpected hiring hurdle in Texas, especially at its South Texas launch site known as Starbase.
Speaking on a recent podcast, the SpaceX and Tesla chief executive said the issue is not a lack of qualified engineers or technicians. Instead, many married candidates are hesitant to relocate because their spouses face limited job prospects in the area.
Musk noted that while SpaceX can offer compelling roles, the surrounding region offers few employment opportunities outside the company itself.
The challenge is most visible at Starbase, which also serves as SpaceX’s headquarters. Its remote location has made it difficult for engineers and technicians with families to make the move, complicating recruitment efforts even as the company continues to expand its operations.
During a nearly three hour conversation with tech podcaster Dwarkesh Patel and Stripe cofounder John Collison, Musk described what he called a major recruiting challenge.
“I call it the ‘significant other’ problem. For Starbase, that was particularly difficult, since the odds of finding a non-SpaceX job are pretty low,” Musk said.
READ: Texas probes ‘ghost offices’ in alleged H-1B visa fraud (January 29, 2026)
Both SpaceX and Tesla shifted their headquarters from California to Texas, a decision Musk acknowledged has complicated hiring. He said married technicians, engineers, and scientists often struggle to move their families to certain parts of the state because of limited opportunities for spouses.
Musk contrasted that with Tesla’s roots in Silicon Valley. “Tesla being engineering, especially being primarily in Silicon Valley, it’s easier for people to just… They don’t have to change their life very much. Their commutes are going to be the same. Tesla still has a majority of its engineering in California,” he added.
Starbase, where SpaceX has been building and testing rockets since 2019, sits in a remote stretch of South Texas near the US Mexico border. The site is directly across from the largely undeveloped Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area and is far from any major urban center.
The nearest city is Brownsville, about a 40 minute drive away, according to Google Maps. Brownsville is home to roughly 187,000 people, based on recent US Census figures. Compared with major tech hubs, the surrounding area offers limited employment options outside SpaceX, a factor that has fed into the company’s recruiting challenges.
READ: ‘Why hasn’t USCIS done anything?’: BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales investigates alleged H-1B visa abuse in Texas (January 23, 2026)
That isolation is a stark departure from SpaceX’s former headquarters in El Segundo, California, which is close to Los Angeles and part of a much larger job market. Musk has described Starbase in blunt terms. “It’s like a technology monastery thing. Remote and mostly dudes,” he said.
Tesla faces a related, though less pronounced, issue after moving its headquarters from California to Austin in 2021. The company’s Giga Texas campus is about a 30 minute drive from downtown Austin, a city with close to one million residents.
Musk also noted that while many of Tesla’s top executives are now based in Texas, the automaker continues to run several robotics, energy, and manufacturing operations in California.