Elon Musk is worth over $380 billion, yet when his 77-year-old mother, Maye Musk, comes to visit, she doesn't get a penthouse suite or even a plush guest room. Nope — she sleeps on blankets, couches, or a mattress in his garage. And she's perfectly fine with it.
"You can't have a fancy house near a rocket site," Maye explained in a 2022 interview with The Times of London, referencing SpaceX's Starbase launch facility in Texas. "I have to sleep in the garage."
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She's not exaggerating. In fact, Maye's made light of the situation multiple times. In an X post the same year, she shared:
"Many memories of sleeping on mattresses or blankets on the floor, on couches, or a bed in the garage. This happens to @kimbal @ToscaMusk and me. We adapt. It's still better than sleeping on the ground in the Kalahari Desert with lions or hyenas nearby, which I did as a child."
That "we adapt" motto seems to be a Musk family tradition.
It's not just Maye. Elon himself has slept in less-than-glamorous spots. Speaking at the 2022 Baron Investment Conference, he recalled sleeping on a factory floor in California and Nevada for three years. "It was damn uncomfortable," he admitted.
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This all fits Musk's minimalist streak. In 2020, he vowed to sell "almost all physical possessions" and declared, "Will own no house," citing freedom as the goal. He followed through, offloading multiple California mansions.
But despite publicly swearing off homeownership, Musk reportedly upgraded to a $6 million, six-bedroom mansion in West Lake Hills, Texas, in 2022 — the same year his mom said she was sleeping in the garage, according to The New York Times. A 16-foot chain-link fence around the property quickly tipped off neighbors that this wasn't just any new arrival.
So, yes, while Musk officially claimed to own only a $50,000, two-bedroom tiny home near the launch site, reports suggest he may have had some real estate back in rotation. Whether that house was close enough to the rocket site for Maye's comfort is up for debate.
When skeptics on X asked Musk in 2023 about persistent rumors of his father's supposed connection to an emerald mine, Elon shot back, "I'd just like to see a picture of this mine. Like, where is it exactly!?" Maye chimed in shortly after, writing, "Me too! And why did we sleep in one-bedroom apartments and on the floor?" effectively shutting down the long-running myth.
Whether it's a garage floor, a couch, or the occasional $6 million mansion, the Musk family seems more focused on adaptability than luxury.
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