Where in the World is Elon Musk From?

Have you ever wondered where the famous entrepreneur Elon Musk was born? You probably know that he’s from South Africa, but was he really born in Randburg, Johannesburg, or Pretoria? 

Did he grow up in Durban, Port Elizabeth, or Cape Town? Where in the world is Elon Musk from? This blog post will tell you everything you need to know about Elon Musk’s hometown and how it helped to shape his future success!

South Africa

At first glance, South Africa and Tesla founder Elon Musk's native country might seem to have little in common. The African nation of 55 million people is plagued by high unemployment, 

poverty and income inequality, while Tesla is worth $30 billion and only makes electric cars that sell for upwards of $70,000. However, as it turns out, South Africa did play a pivotal role early on in his life. 

In fact, if not for one man named Errol Musk (Elon's father), his path could have been very different. When Elon was 17 years old he moved to Canada with nothing but $1,000 dollars (from Errol) and hope that he would be able to make something out of himself there.

Canada 

Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. His mother is a Canadian model and dietician and his father worked as an engineer for South African electrical company Eskom. When he was young, his family moved to Regina where his father got a job supervising reactor construction projects at the local power plant. 

As a child, Elon would spend hours playing with computers and reading science fiction novels instead of going outside to play sports with other kids his age. He attended college at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario where he earned bachelor’s degrees in both economics and physics.

He later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, earning another bachelor’s degree in physics before finally settling down at Stanford University to complete his graduate studies. 

It was there that Elon met future PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel who helped him secure a $30,000 investment from noted Silicon Valley venture capitalist firm Sequoia Capital. 

In 2002, Elon left Stanford just two days before completing his final exams so that he could focus full-time on launching Tesla Motors which launched its first car--the Roadster--in 2008.

Hong Kong

Elon Musk was born in South Africa, but he spent some of his childhood living in Hong Kong. As a child, Elon didn’t like school much, so his parents sent him to Canada with $2,000 and a place to stay for six months. 

He attended Queen’s University before transferring to University of Pennsylvania and graduating with two bachelor degrees: one in Physics and one Economics from Penn's Wharton School of Business.

After that, he got accepted into Stanford where he earned two Master's degrees—one each in Physics and Electrical Engineering. During his time at Stanford, Elon met his first wife who he married in 2000. 

The couple divorced in 2008. In 2012, Elon married Talulah Riley whom he had met on set while filming Iron Man 2. The couple has one daughter together named Nevada who was born on 10th July 2013. They separated again in 2014 and remarried again on 10th July 2016 only to separate once more later that year.

United States 

While Elon Musk’s father was born in Canada, he moved to South Africa when he was 17 years old. As a result, Elon was born in Pretoria and spent much of his early life there before moving to Canada at age 10. 

He didn’t officially become an American citizen until 2002; however, because both of his parents were from there, he’s always felt more American than Canadian. (Fun fact: He has dual citizenship.) 

His family moved from South Africa to Ontario when Elon was a child so that his father could attend university and obtain a PhD. In 1995, Elon left Canada for California after deciding not to pursue undergraduate studies at Queen’s University in Kingston. 

Instead, he enrolled at Stanford University where he studied economics and physics. After two years, Elon transferred to The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with plans to focus on entrepreneurship rather than engineering or science. 

However, due to a lack of interest in classes, Elon dropped out just two days into his sophomore year. Although it may seem like a strange move now, Elon credits leaving school as one of his best decisions ever—he claims it gave him time to read books about business and technology instead of taking classes about them!