diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 92f11d0dd7fe..4cda2f74bbf4 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ include lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/images/*
 include lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/fonts/ttf/*
 include lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/fonts/pdfcorefonts/*
 include lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/fonts/afm/*
+include lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/stylelib/*
 recursive-include lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/sample_data *
 recursive-include LICENSE *
 recursive-include examples *
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/style/stylelib/bmh.mplstyle b/lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/stylelib/bmh.mplstyle
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/matplotlib/style/stylelib/bmh.mplstyle
rename to lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/stylelib/bmh.mplstyle
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/style/stylelib/dark_background.mplstyle b/lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/stylelib/dark_background.mplstyle
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/matplotlib/style/stylelib/dark_background.mplstyle
rename to lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/stylelib/dark_background.mplstyle
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/style/stylelib/fivethirtyeight.mplstyle b/lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/stylelib/fivethirtyeight.mplstyle
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/matplotlib/style/stylelib/fivethirtyeight.mplstyle
rename to lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/stylelib/fivethirtyeight.mplstyle
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/style/stylelib/ggplot.mplstyle b/lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/stylelib/ggplot.mplstyle
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/matplotlib/style/stylelib/ggplot.mplstyle
rename to lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/stylelib/ggplot.mplstyle
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/style/stylelib/grayscale.mplstyle b/lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/stylelib/grayscale.mplstyle
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/matplotlib/style/stylelib/grayscale.mplstyle
rename to lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/stylelib/grayscale.mplstyle
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/style/core.py b/lib/matplotlib/style/core.py
index 02efe1f8a691..8bd0d13b44ed 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/style/core.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/style/core.py
@@ -27,8 +27,7 @@
 __all__ = ['use', 'context', 'available', 'library', 'reload_library']
 
 
-_here = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
-BASE_LIBRARY_PATH = os.path.join(_here, 'stylelib')
+BASE_LIBRARY_PATH = os.path.join(mpl.get_data_path(), 'stylelib')
 # Users may want multiple library paths, so store a list of paths.
 USER_LIBRARY_PATHS = [os.path.join(mpl._get_configdir(), 'stylelib')]
 STYLE_EXTENSION = 'mplstyle'
diff --git a/setupext.py b/setupext.py
index 48c4808e1923..210329d58ac3 100755
--- a/setupext.py
+++ b/setupext.py
@@ -585,7 +585,7 @@ def get_package_data(self):
                 'backends/web_backend/jquery/css/themes/base/images/*',
                 'backends/web_backend/css/*.*',
                 'backends/Matplotlib.nib/*',
-                'style/stylelib/*.mplstyle',
+                'mpl-data/stylelib/*.mplstyle',
              ]}