- The massive IPO would create enough wealth for SpaceX employees to buy roughly 40% of all the homes in San Antonio, one of the closest major metros to where the company is headquartered. Or they could buy every single home in McAllen, located just 80 miles away from the SpaceX headquarters.
- Alternatively, they could buy 5% of all homes in the Los Angeles metro, where the company was founded.
With the wealth created through SpaceX’s massive IPO, current and former employees could hypothetically pool their money to buy an estimated 40% of all homes in San Antonio, one of the closest major U.S. metro areas to the company’s Starbase, TX headquarters. That’s not just homes for sale–that’s half of all homes in the entire metro area.
A few other hypothetical options: Those employees could buy an estimated 15% of all homes in Houston, the fourth-most populous U.S. city. Or they could buy every single home in McAllen, TX–much smaller than San Antonio or Houston but closer to Starbase, only 80 miles away–and have about $74 billion left over.
Alternatively, current and former employees could hypothetically buy nearly one in 20 (5%) of all homes in the Los Angeles metro area, where SpaceX was based until it relocated to Texas in 2024. SpaceX was founded in El Segundo, CA and Hawthorne, CA–both part of the Los Angeles metro–in 2002.
Based on SpaceX’s S1 filing, the company’s IPO could be the biggest in history. SpaceX plans to sell 555,555,555 shares of common stock at $135 per share, raising close to $75 billion and bringing the value of the company to $1.77 trillion. We estimate that current and former employees own roughly 10%-15% of total shares in the company, bringing their total equity to somewhere between $150 and $250 billion; for this report, we’re using the midpoint of $200 billion. Applying broad tax assumptions, current and former employees will gain a total of about $120 billion, post-tax, which is the figure we are using to estimate how much real estate employees could purchase.
The total value of all homes in San Antonio was roughly $297 billion as of 2024, according to a Redfin report. The total value of all homes in Houston was $801 billion, and the total value of all homes in McAllen was $46 billion. Using the assumption that SpaceX employees will earn $120 billion total through the IPO, their equity could buy 40% of all real estate in San Antonio or 15% in Houston. Their equity could buy all the real estate in McAllen, and then some.
The total value of all homes in Los Angeles was nearly $2.2 trillion in 2024–second only to New York City. SpaceX employees could pool their money and buy a sizable chunk–5%–of L.A.’s real estate.
Big-Time IPOs Meaningfully Impact Local Housing Markets
“While these calculations are purely hypothetical and aren’t meant to suggest a realistic use of IPO proceeds, they illustrate the staggering scale of wealth being created by the SpaceX public offering,” said Chen Zhao, Redfin’s head of economics research. “Some employees will spend their windfalls on housing, and some will spend it on other things–but large liquidity events like this do have meaningful effects on local real estate markets. As employees cash out stocks and gain purchasing power, some will choose to buy a house for the first time, while others will upgrade their existing homes or buy vacation or investment properties. That increases demand in communities where these companies are based and often drives up prices.”
In San Francisco, home prices are growing at their fastest pace in nearly a decade as the AI boom drives a surge in demand. The Bay Area’s hot housing market is driven largely by signing bonuses and big salaries from AI companies, and when big AI businesses go public, it could have an even bigger impact on housing. Anthropic and OpenAI, both based in San Francisco, each filed confidentially for IPOs in early June. Both will reportedly be valued close to $1 trillion when they go public.
Methodology
SpaceX’s IPO valuation, share count, and ownership stakes are drawn from the company’s S-1 registration statement filed with the SEC on May 20, 2026, and an amended filing dated June 3, 2026. SpaceX plans to sell 555,555,555 shares at $135 per share, implying a total company valuation of approximately $1.77 trillion.
The S-1 does not disclose total employee equity as a single figure. Our estimate that employees hold 10–15% of total shares—implying $150–250 billion in equity, with a $200 billion midpoint—is derived by subtracting known large stakeholders from the total market cap and applying typical employee equity pool ranges seen at comparable late-stage tech IPOs. After applying estimated federal and state income taxes, we estimate SpaceX employees would net a total of approximately $120 billion in after-tax proceeds, or roughly 60% of the $200 billion pre-tax midpoint. That is a broad figure, as taxes depend on state, stock type and many other factors.
Total housing market values for all metro areas cited are from a Redfin report on U.S. housing market values as of December 2024.
Important caveats: All wealth figures reflect IPO pricing, not realized gains–employees are subject to lockup periods before they can sell shares. Taxes could reduce actual proceeds more than estimated. The employee equity figure is a modeled estimate, not a disclosed number. And the real estate comparisons are illustrative only, intended to convey scale rather than suggest a realistic use of IPO proceeds.
