SpaceX Plans $100B Spaceport in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana

SpaceX will build a $100 billion spaceport and propellant manufacturing complex on former ExxonMobil land near Pecan Island in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, the company’s fourth and largest launch site, with construction targeted to begin in 2027 and a first Starship launch as soon as 2029.

Why it matters

At full buildout the site is planned for five launch complexes, each with two launch pads, alongside a propellant production facility, on-site power generation, vehicle processing buildings and housing for workers and their families, a scope closer to a self-contained industrial town than a single launch pad. For general contractors and heavy-industrial trades along the national Gulf Coast corridor, that means years of concrete, steel and utility-scale power work stacked in a single rural parish, plus a construction workforce large enough to reshape local labor pricing well before the first rocket flies. Louisiana Economic Development is backing the project with the Aerospace Facilities and Activities Rebate under Act 190 of 2026, the High Impact Jobs program and customized hiring support through LED FastStart, while SpaceX has joined the state’s Source Louisiana supplier network to line up local subcontractors.

The numbers

LED projects 3,000 direct jobs over 10 years at an average salary of $92,600, which the agency says is 192 percent above the current Vermilion Parish average wage, plus more than 8,100 indirect jobs for a combined 11,100 new job opportunities across the Acadiana region. Separate from the state incentive package, SpaceX and Vermilion Parish struck a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement worth $25 million annually for 25 years with an escalator, plus a $20 million upfront payment, totaling more than $820 million in direct parish payments, on top of a $25 million charitable commitment to the Community Foundation of Acadiana.

What’s next

SpaceX has said publicly it will need to shore up the shoreline as part of the buildout, coordinating with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority in a parish that has already lost roughly 95 square miles of land since 1932. Construction bidding and site work are expected to ramp through 2027 ahead of the 2029 launch target, with the coastal permitting track running in parallel.