At first glance, it sounds like satire: the world’s richest man — worth over $333 billion — living in a 375-square-foot prefabricated home beside a rocket launch site in Texas. Yet for Elon Musk, it’s not a stunt or a phase. It’s his chosen way of life.

In 2020, the billionaire quietly began selling off his California mansions — from sprawling Bel Air estates to modern Silicon Valley compounds — eventually announcing on Twitter, “I will own no house.” It wasn’t just a statement; it was a manifesto. His new “primary home,” he said, would be a $50,000 Boxabl Casita — a minimalist, modular unit stationed near SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.

The house itself is barely 375 square feet — a single-story cube of efficiency with foldable walls, a kitchenette, and a compact bedroom-living hybrid. From the outside, it looks more like a shipping container than the dwelling of a man running Tesla, SpaceX, and X. But for Musk, that’s the point.

Some call it a power move, a deliberate contradiction meant to send a message: that Musk is untethered from material wealth, that his focus is on Mars, not marble countertops. Others see it as a practical choice — a way to stay close to the SpaceX site, living and breathing the work that consumes him.

Whatever the motivation, the symbolism is undeniable. In an age when billionaires flaunt megayachts and hyper-mansions, Musk’s tiny home has become part of his mythology — another example of how he bends expectations, and narratives, to his will.

“Possessions weigh you down,” Musk once said. It’s a sentiment that sounds almost monastic, coming from a man whose companies shape the future of transport, energy, and space. And yet, it fits perfectly into the story of Elon Musk — a man who seems just as fascinated by simplicity as he is by the stars.

Whether it’s humility or a calculated statement, one thing is clear: in Musk’s world, even a 375-square-foot box can hold a universe of meaning.