X Marks the Spot

Elon Musk plans to relocate headquarters of X from California to Texas

Elon Musk cited a new California law about children's privacy as reason to move.

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Billionaire Elon Musk says he’s moving the headquarters of SpaceX and social media company X to Texas from California.

Musk posted on X Tuesday that he plans on moving SpaceX from Hawthorne, California, to the company’s rocket launch site dubbed Starbase in Texas. X will move to Austin from San Francisco.

He called a new law signed Monday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom that bars school districts from requiring staff to notify parents of their child’s gender identification change the “final straw.”

“I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children,” Musk wrote.

Tesla, where Musk is CEO, moved its corporate headquarters to Austin from Palo Alto, California in 2021.

Musk has also said that he has moved his residence from California to Texas, where there is no state personal income tax.

SpaceX builds and launches its massive Starship rockets from the southern tip of Texas at Boca Chica Beach, near the Mexican border at a site called Starbase. The company’s smaller Falcon 9 rockets take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Southern California.

It’s just below South Padre Island, and about 20 miles from Brownsville.

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Dallas ranks No. 1 city in U.S. for corporate HQ relocations

Photo by Erin Hervey on Unsplash

Dallas' inflation has cooled off after it was last saddled with the highest inflation rate nationally in January 2024.

More corporations are choosing to relocate their headquarters to Dallas-Fort Worth than any other place in the United States.

A recent analysis by commercial real estate services company CBRE reveals DFW was the No. 1 metro for corporate headquarters relocations from 2018 to 2024. In those six years, the area attracted 100 new corporate headquarters.

DFW is followed by Austin (81 relocations), Nashville (35), Houston and Phoenix (31 each), and Denver (23).

CBRE’s list encompasses public announcements from companies across various sizes and industries about relocating their corporate headquarters within the U.S. According to the study, reasons cited by companies for moving their headquarters include:

Access to lower taxes
Availability of tax incentives
Proximity to key markets
Ability to support hybrid work

“Corporations now view headquarters locations as strategic assets, allowing for adaptability and faster reaction to market changes,” said CBRE.

Among the high-profile companies that moved their headquarters to the Dallas area from 2018 to 2024 are:

Charles Schwab financial services company
AECOM construction firm
McKesson healthcare company

Notably, CBRE itself moved its global HQ from San Francisco to Dallas in 2020.

In February, Yum! Brands revealed it would relocate the global fried chicken chain KFC from its current headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky to Plano. The latest relocation announcement came June 19, when California-based hair care brand John Paul Mitchell Systems said it would move its headquarters to the Dallas area.

According to CBRE, California (particularly the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles areas) lost the most corporate HQs in 2024, with 17 companies announcing relocations — 12 of them to Texas. Also last year, Texas gained nearly half of all state-to-state relocations.

In March, Site Selection magazine awarded Texas its 2024 Governor’s Cup, resulting in 13 consecutive wins for the state with the most corporate relocations and expansions.

CBRE explained that the trend of corporate HQ relocations reflects the desire of companies to seek new environments to support their goals and workforce needs.

“Ultimately, companies are seeking to establish themselves in locations with potential for long-term success and profitability,” CBRE said.

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This story originally appeared on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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