X Marks the Spot

Elon Musk announces SpaceX headquarters are moving to South 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 South 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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city life

San Antonio appears on new list of best large college towns in America

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San Antonio's bustling universities, economy, and vibrant culture have earned the city a new reputation one of the top 30 best large college towns in America for 2025.

WalletHub's annual list of the best American college towns divided more than 400 U.S. cities into four categories: top overall, large cities with populations more than 300,000 people, midsize cities with populations from 125,000-300,000 people, and small cities with populations less than 125,000 people.

San Antonio ranked No. 29 in the large city category, earning a score of 51.94 points out of a possible 100.

Taking the crown as the No. 1 overall best college town is Austin, followed by Ann Arbor, Michigan (No. 2); Orlando (No. 3) and Tampa, Florida (No. 4); and Raleigh, North Carolina (No. 5).

The Alamo City performed its best in the national ranking for "wallet friendliness" (No. 60) and ranked a fair No. 92 in the category for "social environment." The city flunked out in the category for "academic and economic opportunities," coming in at No. 309.

San Antonio couldn't have received this new accolade without the help of top quality institutions like Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, which have ranked among the best universities in Texas for 2025.

In WalletHub's overall rankings, San Antonio ranked No. 81 out of all 415 U.S. cities in the report.

"Picking the right college is crucial, but it’s also important to make sure that the surrounding college town will be a place where you’ll truly love spending your college years," WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said. "Towns with a low cost of living, plenty of activities and large student populations can make your college experience a lot less stressful and a lot more enjoyable. In addition, cities with a great economic environment can make it easier to get a job during or immediately after college.”

The top 10 best college towns in the U.S. are:

No. 1 – Austin, Texas
No. 2 – Ann Arbor, Michigan
No. 3 – Orlando, Florida
No. 4 – Tampa, Florida
No. 5 – Raleigh, North Carolina
No. 6 – Scottsdale, Arizona
No. 7 – Charlottesville, Virginia
No. 8 – Tempe, Arizona
No. 9 – Gainesville, Florida
No. 10 – Atlanta, Georgia

The report examined 415 U.S. cities across 31 metrics across three key dimensions — "Wallet Friendliness," "Social Environment," and "Academic and Economic Opportunities" — to determine their rankings. Factors that were included in the report include the adjusted cost of living for "young people," number of attractions, crime rates, earning potential for college graduates, "brain drain," and more. Data was sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, among others.

More information and studies can be found on wallethub.com.

universities colleges wallethub rankings reports san antonio