Billionaire Elon Musk has denied reports that he is building a $35 million Austin, TX, compound where he plans to house all 11 of his children—instead focusing his attention on the neighborhood of Brownsville, where his SpaceX headquarters is located and where he owns an incredibly humble $50,000 family home.

Reports about 53-year-old Musk‘s “compound” first emerged in October, when the New York Times claimed that the businessman had purchased three mansions in the Austin area—for a total of $35 million—that he planned to use to house all of his kids, as well as two of their three mothers.

The outlet stated that Musk, who is worth an estimated $313 billion, had “told people close to him in recent months” that he believed the arrangement would allow his younger children to “be a part of one another’s lives,” while enabling him to “schedule time among them.”

However, a new report by the same outlet reveals that the billionaire has since denied those claims.

Musk has been investing heavily in Austin real estate for his Tesla headquarters, which he moved to the outskirts of the Texas city from its original base in California in December 2021.

However, rather than basing his home there, Musk chose to move into a low-key property on the coast, just a block away from his SpaceX Starbase facility in Boca Chica.

The father of 11 revealed that he was living in the three-bedroom, ranch-style house in 2021, stating in a post on X, which he now owns, that he was renting the property from SpaceX.

“My primary home is literally a ~$50k house in Boca Chica/Starbase that I rent from SpaceX. It’s kinda awesome though,” he said. The only other house he owned at the time was an “events house” in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Brownsville property that Musk was referring to is located on a grassy street that runs down to the perimeter of Starbase and has several similar properties dotting it.

The home serves as the businessman’s official legal residence, a status that he confirmed when he visited a local polling station to cast his vote in the 2024 presidential election. He had spent months campaigning for Republican Donald Trump.

“Just voted in Cameron County, Texas, home of Starbase!” Musk wrote on X on Nov. 5, while sharing an image of himself and several acquaintances standing outside the polling location.

Before Musk began work on Starbase in 2014, Boca Chica was known primarily as a sleepy coastal town with a small population that was largely made up of retirees. However, interest in the area soon soared as hordes of SpaceX employees set up shop there, with the company building multiple homes in the area, as well as the enormous Starbase facility.

Then, in July, Musk announced that he is relocating both SpaceX and X from California to the Brownsville area.

“That is fantastic news,” Mayor John Cowen Jr. said in a statement. “I think it will just continue the investment in the region. It puts us on the map at a much bigger level now that we have the headquarters of the most valuable aerospace company in the world.

“I think that is a feather in our hat that we will be able to say that we have that in our region and it will just create more opportunity for our residents and our businesses,” he added.

SpaceX already has a launch site in Boca Chica. However, after its relocation, it will increase the number of launches and landings to 25 annually, according to a press release from Cowen’s office.

Musk’s ability to draw global attention to Brownsville was made clear on Nov. 19, when President-elect Trump traveled to the area to join Musk for the launch of SpaceX’s Starship rocket system.

However, his Texas takeover has not been without criticism, particularly from some locals who say that their once-quiet beachside lifestyle has been turned upside down as a result of SpaceX launches and Starbase work.

Musk has been accused of damaging the local environment with the expansion of SpaceX, according to the Times, and has also been blamed for increasing house prices in the area as more people begin to view it as a burgeoning metropolis.

However, one local official, Eddie Trevino Jr., told the Times that while some locals believe the impact of Musk’s business expansions is “unforgivable,” he believes the “pros outweigh the cons” in benefits to the area—and its economy.

“We’ve been looking and fighting and striving for better-paying jobs for generations,” he went on.

The mayor told the Times that Musk’s eponymous foundation has also pledged about $10 million to redeveloping Brownsville’s historic downtown area, which has seen a boom in new businesses of late, including hotels, coffee shops, and restaurants.

“It’s a win-win,” Cowen said. “We have two French restaurants downtown now.”

It remains to be seen whether Musk’s alleged plans for a family “compound” will be brought to life in the Brownsville area—particularly given that many of his children are currently living in different locations across the country.

The billionaire has welcomed 12 children since 2002. However, his firstborn died of sudden infant death syndrome at just 10 weeks old.

Musk shares five children with his first wife, Justine Wilson: transgender daughter, Vivian, from whom he is estranged, and her twin, Griffin, both of whom are now 20; and triplets Saxon, Damian, and Kai.

Following his divorce from Wilson, Musk had a highly publicized relationship with British actress Talulah Riley, whom he wed and divorced on two occasions. The pair never had children.

He has three children with musician Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher: X Æ A-Xii, 4, who is known as X; Exa Dark Sideræl, 2, who is known as Y; and Techno Mechanicus, who was born in 2022 and goes by Tau.

He secretly welcomed twins with Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis in 2021, then confirmed in 2024 that they had a third child. The names of these three children have not been revealed.

Musk is famously known to be obsessed with declining birthrates and often voices his opinions about the subject on X, the social media company he owns.

“It should be considered a national emergency to have kids,” he posted in June. Another post read, “I’m doing my best to encourage more people to become parents and ideally have three or more kids, so humanity can grow.”

Musk has publicly offered his DNA to others, including Taylor Swift after she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in September. After Swift signed her Instagram post with “Childless Cat Lady,” Musk responded on X: “Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”