Is Elon Musk Working on a Secret Move to Alabama? Here's What We Know

I have several friends in the tech industry in Alabama. A few months ago, several of my "techie" friends told me about a persistent rumor they kept hearing that Elon Musk might be planning some sort of secret move to Alabama. Some folks in north Alabama pointed out a specific house that they heard he might be remodeling. Others posted photos of a mysterious black private jet spotted in Alabama rumored to be transporting Musk. Although those rumors eventually died down, it seems that they are making the rounds once again. This begs the question: is Elon Musk secretly working on a move to Alabama? Here's what we know.

Photo byCollage by A. Killian

The House

The house that many people speculated could be Elon's new southern mansion is a house in Huntsville that seems to have been the site of an endless amount of renovations over the last two years. Although it appears that the owner definitely has deep pockets, one search of public data reveals that the house is not under the ownership of Elon Musk or any of his companies. The house, located on Slaughter Road, near the Farris Road intersection, belongs to a private individual with no relationship to Elon Musk. I won't name that individual here, but anyone can look up the owner's name in public tax records.

Photo byPosted by user thraxer to the r/Huntsville subreddit (reddit.com)

The Jet

About two years ago, the photo above, taken at the Huntsville International Airport, was shared in several local groups and in the Huntsville, Alabama, subreddit with the caption, "Take a wild guess on who is here." While the cool-looking blacked-out camo jet looked like one that could possibly transport the SpaceX Master himself, it turned out to be the private jet of a different billionaire, Jared Isaacman. Besides, if you ever want to know where Musk is jet setting around the world, his private jet is tracked on an X (Twitter) account named Elonjet Delayed, and no, he has not been tracked landing in Huntsville recently.

What Elon Is Doing in Alabama

In April 2024, it was widely published that Musk's company, X, had applied for a money transmitter license in Alabama. This license is required for any company to operate in Alabama that may transmit money from one party to another for a fee. That's it, folks—just another boring required state license, nothing more. Although it seems that our "rocket city" would be a perfect match for the SpaceX king, it doesn't sound as if Musk is very fond of the state—mainly due to some past actions of politicians. In an article on AL.com in 2023, Musk made the accusation that retiring Sen. Richard Shelby "did his best to hold back SpaceX." Who knows, maybe sometime in the future, Musk will strike a deal to headquarter one of his many tech companies in our own tech-savvy Rocket City. If such a deal ever comes to fruition, I'm sure it will make major headlines across the state. Until then, anything else you may hear in the breakroom or the watercooler at work is purely a rumor.

Click "follow" to catch more of my articles! I'm a native and resident of the Shoals area of north Alabama - sharing stories about the unique people, places, and history across the South! Have a story you'd like to share or a topic you'd like to see me write about? Email me: april.newsbreak@gmail.com. Thanks for reading!