---
title: "SpaceX picks a former Exxon site in Louisiana for a $100 billion spaceport"
description: "Construction in Vermilion Parish is due to start in 2027, with a first Starship launch targeted for 2029, or 2030 by the state's estimate. Louisiana projects 3,000 permanent jobs at an average salary of $92,600, and more than 30,000 construction jobs at peak."
category: "Technology"
category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/technology
author: "Lucas Silva"
published: 2026-08-26T01:35:35.000Z
updated: 2026-08-26T01:35:35.000Z
canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/spacex-picks-a-former-exxon-site-in-louisiana-for-a-100-billion-dollar-spaceport
tags: ["spacex", "starship", "louisiana", "spaceflight", "investment"]
---
# SpaceX picks a former Exxon site in Louisiana for a $100 billion spaceport

Construction in Vermilion Parish is due to start in 2027, with a first Starship launch targeted for 2029, or 2030 by the state's estimate. Louisiana projects 3,000 permanent jobs at an average salary of $92,600, and more than 30,000 construction jobs at peak.

SpaceX will spend $100 billion building a second Starbase spaceport in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, west of New Orleans, on a former Exxon property on the Gulf Coast, [TechCrunch reports](https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/25/spacex-will-build-a-second-100b-starbase-spaceport-in-louisiana/). It ends a seven-year search for a site.

Construction begins in 2027. SpaceX is targeting a first Starship launch in 2029; Louisiana's estimate is 2030.

## What is actually being built

The plan is described as a self-sustaining spaceport, with propellant production, power generation, deep-water shipping, vehicle processing facilities and an airport.

That list is the substance of the $100 billion. A launch pad is a small part of a modern spaceport; the expensive parts are making your own propellant, generating your own power and being able to receive rocket sections by sea. Starship is too large to move easily by road, which is why deep water matters and why a Gulf Coast site with an existing industrial footprint is attractive.

The existing Texas Starbase is about ten hours away by road, so the two are close enough to share supply chains and staff without competing for the same airspace.

## The jobs figures, and where they come from

Louisiana Economic Development projects 3,000 direct jobs over ten years at an average salary of $92,600, and more than 30,000 construction jobs at peak buildout.

Those are the state's numbers, published by the agency whose function is to attract investment, and they should be read that way. An average salary across 3,000 jobs conceals a wide range, construction employment is temporary by definition, and "over ten years" is a long horizon for a facility that has not begun construction.

None of that makes the figures wrong. It makes them projections by an interested party.

## What the site is for

Starship launches, supporting SpaceX's satellite internet business and what the report describes as ambitions for AI processing networks.

## What we could not establish

We could not establish what incentives Louisiana has offered, whether federal launch licences have been granted, the environmental review status of a coastal wetland site, how many launches a year are planned, or what the former Exxon property was used for. We verified this account from a single publication.

## Sources

- [SpaceX will build a second, $100B 'Starbase' spaceport in Louisiana](https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/25/spacex-will-build-a-second-100b-starbase-spaceport-in-louisiana/)