diff --git a/csvkit/cleanup.py b/csvkit/cleanup.py
index 63e13311b..149f684c8 100644
--- a/csvkit/cleanup.py
+++ b/csvkit/cleanup.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ def join_rows(rows, joiner=' '):
     return fixed_row
 
 
-class RowChecker(object):
+class RowChecker:
     """
     Iterate over rows of a CSV producing cleaned rows and storing error rows.
     """
diff --git a/csvkit/cli.py b/csvkit/cli.py
index 62c94884c..471119670 100644
--- a/csvkit/cli.py
+++ b/csvkit/cli.py
@@ -2,29 +2,19 @@
 
 import argparse
 import bz2
-import codecs
 import gzip
 import itertools
+import lzma
 import sys
 import warnings
 from os.path import splitext
 
 import agate
-import six
-
-if six.PY3:
-    import lzma
-elif six.PY2:
-    # Try import backports.lzma if available
-    try:
-        from backports import lzma
-    except ImportError:
-        lzma = None
 
 from csvkit.exceptions import ColumnIdentifierError, RequiredHeaderError
 
 
-class LazyFile(six.Iterator):
+class LazyFile:
     """
     A proxy for a File object that delays opening it until
     a read method is called.
@@ -65,7 +55,7 @@ def __next__(self):
         return next(self.f)
 
 
-class CSVKitUtility(object):
+class CSVKitUtility:
     description = ''
     epilog = ''
     override_flags = ''
@@ -241,32 +231,21 @@ def _open_input_file(self, path):
         """
         Open the input file specified on the command line.
         """
-        if six.PY2:
-            mode = 'Urb'
-            kwargs = {}
-        else:
-            mode = 'rt'  # default
-            kwargs = {'encoding': self.args.encoding}
-
         if not path or path == '-':
             f = sys.stdin
         else:
             extension = splitext(path)[1]
 
             if extension == '.gz':
-                f = LazyFile(gzip.open, path, mode, **kwargs)
+                func = gzip.open
             elif extension == '.bz2':
-                if six.PY2:
-                    f = LazyFile(bz2.BZ2File, path, mode, **kwargs)
-                else:
-                    f = LazyFile(bz2.open, path, mode, **kwargs)
+                func = bz2.open
             elif extension == ".xz":
-                if lzma is not None:
-                    f = LazyFile(lzma.open, path, mode, **kwargs)
-                else:
-                    raise RuntimeError("backports.lzma is needed for .xz support with Python 2")
+                func = lzma.open
             else:
-                f = LazyFile(open, path, mode, **kwargs)
+                func = open
+
+            f = LazyFile(func, path, mode='rt', encoding=self.args.encoding)
 
         return f
 
@@ -286,9 +265,6 @@ def _extract_csv_reader_kwargs(self):
             if value is not None:
                 kwargs[arg] = value
 
-        if six.PY2 and self.args.encoding:
-            kwargs['encoding'] = self.args.encoding
-
         if getattr(self.args, 'no_header_row', None):
             kwargs['header'] = not self.args.no_header_row
 
@@ -309,9 +285,6 @@ def _install_exception_handler(self):
         """
         Installs a replacement for sys.excepthook, which handles pretty-printing uncaught exceptions.
         """
-        if six.PY2:
-            sys.stderr = codecs.getwriter('utf-8')(sys.stderr)
-
         def handler(t, value, traceback):
             if self.args.verbose:
                 sys.__excepthook__(t, value, traceback)
@@ -323,7 +296,7 @@ def handler(t, value, traceback):
                                      'flag or with the PYTHONIOENCODING environment variable. Use the -v flag to see '
                                      'the complete error.\n' % self.args.encoding)
                 else:
-                    sys.stderr.write('%s: %s\n' % (t.__name__, six.text_type(value)))
+                    sys.stderr.write('%s: %s\n' % (t.__name__, str(value)))
 
         sys.excepthook = handler
 
@@ -360,8 +333,7 @@ def get_column_types(self):
     def get_column_offset(self):
         if self.args.zero_based:
             return 0
-        else:
-            return 1
+        return 1
 
     def skip_lines(self):
         if isinstance(self.args.skip_lines, int):
@@ -444,24 +416,24 @@ def match_column_identifier(column_names, c, column_offset=1):
     Note that integer values are *always* treated as positional identifiers. If you happen to have
     column names which are also integers, you must specify them using a positional index.
     """
-    if isinstance(c, six.string_types) and not c.isdigit() and c in column_names:
+    if isinstance(c, str) and not c.isdigit() and c in column_names:
         return column_names.index(c)
-    else:
-        try:
-            c = int(c) - column_offset
-        # Fail out if neither a column name nor an integer
-        except ValueError:
-            raise ColumnIdentifierError("Column '%s' is invalid. It is neither an integer nor a column name. "
-                                        "Column names are: %s" % (c, repr(column_names)[1:-1]))
-
-        # Fail out if index is 0-based
-        if c < 0:
-            raise ColumnIdentifierError("Column %i is invalid. Columns are 1-based." % (c + column_offset))
-
-        # Fail out if index is out of range
-        if c >= len(column_names):
-            raise ColumnIdentifierError("Column %i is invalid. The last column is '%s' at index %i." % (
-                c + column_offset, column_names[-1], len(column_names) - 1 + column_offset))
+
+    try:
+        c = int(c) - column_offset
+    # Fail out if neither a column name nor an integer
+    except ValueError:
+        raise ColumnIdentifierError("Column '%s' is invalid. It is neither an integer nor a column name. "
+                                    "Column names are: %s" % (c, repr(column_names)[1:-1]))
+
+    # Fail out if index is 0-based
+    if c < 0:
+        raise ColumnIdentifierError("Column %i is invalid. Columns are 1-based." % (c + column_offset))
+
+    # Fail out if index is out of range
+    if c >= len(column_names):
+        raise ColumnIdentifierError("Column %i is invalid. The last column is '%s' at index %i." % (
+            c + column_offset, column_names[-1], len(column_names) - 1 + column_offset))
 
     return c
 
diff --git a/csvkit/convert/__init__.py b/csvkit/convert/__init__.py
index f95a0693d..c8beefc8a 100644
--- a/csvkit/convert/__init__.py
+++ b/csvkit/convert/__init__.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ def guess_format(filename):
 
     if extension in ('csv', 'dbf', 'fixed', 'xls', 'xlsx'):
         return extension
-    elif extension in ['json', 'js']:
+    if extension in ('json', 'js'):
         return 'json'
 
     return None
diff --git a/csvkit/convert/fixed.py b/csvkit/convert/fixed.py
index 03cbb7138..5c04d1cfb 100644
--- a/csvkit/convert/fixed.py
+++ b/csvkit/convert/fixed.py
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@
 
 from codecs import iterdecode
 from collections import namedtuple
+from io import StringIO
 
 import agate
-import six
 
 
 def fixed2csv(f, schema, output=None, skip_lines=0, **kwargs):
@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@ def fixed2csv(f, schema, output=None, skip_lines=0, **kwargs):
     :param skip_lines:
         The number of lines to skip from the top of the file.
     """
-    streaming = True if output else False
+    streaming = bool(output)
 
     if not streaming:
-        output = six.StringIO()
+        output = StringIO()
 
     try:
         encoding = kwargs['encoding']
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ def fixed2csv(f, schema, output=None, skip_lines=0, **kwargs):
     return ''
 
 
-class FixedWidthReader(six.Iterator):
+class FixedWidthReader:
     """
     Given a fixed-width file and a schema file, produce an analog to a csv
     reader that yields a row of strings for each line in the fixed-width file,
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ def __next__(self):
 FixedWidthField = namedtuple('FixedWidthField', ['name', 'start', 'length'])
 
 
-class FixedWidthRowParser(object):
+class FixedWidthRowParser:
     """
     Instantiated with a schema, able to return a sequence of trimmed strings
     representing fields given a fixed-length line. Flexible about where the
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ def headers(self):
         return [field.name for field in self.fields]
 
 
-class SchemaDecoder(object):
+class SchemaDecoder:
     """
     Extracts column, start, and length columns from schema rows. Once
     instantiated, each time the instance is called with a row, a
diff --git a/csvkit/convert/geojs.py b/csvkit/convert/geojs.py
index 1a7b07e36..140f2f7eb 100644
--- a/csvkit/convert/geojs.py
+++ b/csvkit/convert/geojs.py
@@ -1,14 +1,10 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
-try:
-    import json
-    from collections import OrderedDict
-except ImportError:
-    from ordereddict import OrderedDict
-    import simplejson as json
+import json
+from collections import OrderedDict
+from io import StringIO
 
 import agate
-import six
 
 
 def geojson2csv(f, key=None, **kwargs):
@@ -58,7 +54,7 @@ def geojson2csv(f, key=None, **kwargs):
     header.extend(property_fields)
     header.extend(('geojson', 'type', 'longitude', 'latitude'))
 
-    o = six.StringIO()
+    o = StringIO()
     writer = agate.csv.writer(o)
 
     writer.writerow(header)
diff --git a/csvkit/exceptions.py b/csvkit/exceptions.py
index dcf4ce3b2..f6ac6f431 100644
--- a/csvkit/exceptions.py
+++ b/csvkit/exceptions.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ class CSVTestException(CustomException):
     """
 
     def __init__(self, line_number, row, msg):
-        super(CSVTestException, self).__init__(msg)
+        super().__init__(msg)
         self.line_number = line_number
         self.row = row
 
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ class LengthMismatchError(CSVTestException):
 
     def __init__(self, line_number, row, expected_length):
         msg = 'Expected %i columns, found %i columns' % (expected_length, len(row))
-        super(LengthMismatchError, self).__init__(line_number, row, msg)
+        super().__init__(line_number, row, msg)
 
     @property
     def length(self):
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ def __init__(self, index, value, normal_type):
         self.value = value
         self.normal_type = normal_type
         msg = 'Unable to convert "%s" to type %s (at index %i)' % (value, normal_type, index)
-        super(InvalidValueForTypeException, self).__init__(msg)
+        super().__init__(msg)
 
 
 class RequiredHeaderError(CustomException):
diff --git a/csvkit/grep.py b/csvkit/grep.py
index d80b37a0d..44f233016 100644
--- a/csvkit/grep.py
+++ b/csvkit/grep.py
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
-import six
 
 from csvkit.exceptions import ColumnIdentifierError
 
 
-class FilteringCSVReader(six.Iterator):
+class FilteringCSVReader:
     r"""
     Given any row iterator, only return rows which pass the filter.
     If 'header' is False, then all rows must pass the filter; by default, the first row will be passed
@@ -34,7 +33,7 @@ class FilteringCSVReader(six.Iterator):
     column_names = None
 
     def __init__(self, reader, patterns, header=True, any_match=False, inverse=False):
-        super(FilteringCSVReader, self).__init__()
+        super().__init__()
 
         self.reader = reader
         self.header = header
@@ -78,8 +77,7 @@ def test_row(self, row):
 
         if self.any_match:
             return self.inverse  # False
-        else:
-            return not self.inverse  # True
+        return not self.inverse  # True
 
 
 def standardize_patterns(column_names, patterns):
@@ -122,7 +120,7 @@ def pattern_as_function(obj):
     return lambda x: obj in x
 
 
-class regex_callable(object):
+class regex_callable:
 
     def __init__(self, pattern):
         self.pattern = pattern
diff --git a/csvkit/utilities/csvgrep.py b/csvkit/utilities/csvgrep.py
index 96eeeb955..939e0ae1f 100644
--- a/csvkit/utilities/csvgrep.py
+++ b/csvkit/utilities/csvgrep.py
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 from argparse import FileType
 
 import agate
-import six
 
 from csvkit.cli import CSVKitUtility
 from csvkit.grep import FilteringCSVReader
@@ -16,13 +15,6 @@ class CSVGrep(CSVKitUtility):
     override_flags = ['L', 'blanks', 'date-format', 'datetime-format']
 
     def add_arguments(self):
-        # I feel that there ought to be a better way to do this across Python 2 and 3.
-        def option_parser(bytestring):
-            if six.PY2:
-                return bytestring.decode(sys.getfilesystemencoding())
-            else:
-                return bytestring
-
         self.argparser.add_argument(
             '-n', '--names', dest='names_only', action='store_true',
             help='Display column names and indices from the input CSV and exit.')
@@ -30,10 +22,10 @@ def option_parser(bytestring):
             '-c', '--columns', dest='columns',
             help='A comma-separated list of column indices, names or ranges to be searched, e.g. "1,id,3-5".')
         self.argparser.add_argument(
-            '-m', '--match', dest="pattern", action='store', type=option_parser,
+            '-m', '--match', dest="pattern", action='store',
             help='A string to search for.')
         self.argparser.add_argument(
-            '-r', '--regex', dest='regex', action='store', type=option_parser,
+            '-r', '--regex', dest='regex', action='store',
             help='A regular expression to match.')
         self.argparser.add_argument(
             '-f', '--file', dest='matchfile', type=FileType('r'), action='store',
diff --git a/csvkit/utilities/csvjson.py b/csvkit/utilities/csvjson.py
index 203495877..8923e031a 100644
--- a/csvkit/utilities/csvjson.py
+++ b/csvkit/utilities/csvjson.py
@@ -1,19 +1,12 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
-import codecs
 import datetime
 import decimal
+import json
 import sys
-
-try:
-    import json
-    from collections import OrderedDict
-except ImportError:
-    from ordereddict import OrderedDict
-    import simplejson as json
+from collections import OrderedDict
 
 import agate
-import six
 
 from csvkit.cli import CSVKitUtility, match_column_identifier
 
@@ -63,7 +56,7 @@ def add_arguments(self):
             help='Disable type inference (and --locale, --date-format, --datetime-format) when parsing CSV input.')
 
     def __init__(self, args=None, output_file=None):
-        super(CSVJSON, self).__init__(args, output_file)
+        super().__init__(args, output_file)
 
         self.validate_args()
 
@@ -73,11 +66,7 @@ def __init__(self, args=None, output_file=None):
         }
 
         # We need to do this stream dance here, because we aren't writing through agate.
-        if six.PY2:
-            self.stream = codecs.getwriter('utf-8')(self.output_file)
-            self.json_kwargs['encoding'] = 'utf-8'
-        else:
-            self.stream = self.output_file
+        self.stream = self.output_file
 
     def main(self):
         """
@@ -106,7 +95,7 @@ def dump_json(self, data, newline=False):
         def default(obj):
             if isinstance(obj, (datetime.date, datetime.datetime)):
                 return obj.isoformat()
-            elif isinstance(obj, decimal.Decimal):
+            if isinstance(obj, decimal.Decimal):
                 return str(obj)
             raise TypeError('%s is not JSON serializable' % repr(obj))
 
diff --git a/csvkit/utilities/csvsql.py b/csvkit/utilities/csvsql.py
index 54ff8db83..9626d99a7 100644
--- a/csvkit/utilities/csvsql.py
+++ b/csvkit/utilities/csvsql.py
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 
 import agate
 import agatesql  # noqa: F401
-import six
 from pkg_resources import iter_entry_points
 from sqlalchemy import create_engine, dialects
 
@@ -130,13 +129,13 @@ def main(self):
             try:
                 engine = create_engine(self.args.connection_string)
             except ImportError as e:
-                six.raise_from(ImportError(
+                raise ImportError(
                     "You don't appear to have the necessary database backend installed for connection string you're "
                     "trying to use. Available backends include:\n\nPostgreSQL:\tpip install psycopg2\nMySQL:\t\tpip "
                     "install mysql-connector-python OR pip install mysqlclient\n\nFor details on connection strings "
                     "and other backends, please see the SQLAlchemy documentation on dialects at:\n\n"
                     "http://www.sqlalchemy.org/docs/dialects/\n\n"
-                ), e)
+                ) from e
 
             self.connection = engine.connect()
 
diff --git a/csvkit/utilities/csvstat.py b/csvkit/utilities/csvstat.py
index 31a0036e1..17ba7d9ef 100644
--- a/csvkit/utilities/csvstat.py
+++ b/csvkit/utilities/csvstat.py
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
-import codecs
 import locale
 import warnings
 from collections import Counter, OrderedDict
 from decimal import Decimal
 
 import agate
-import six
 
 from csvkit.cli import CSVKitUtility, parse_column_identifiers
 
@@ -147,9 +145,6 @@ def main(self):
             self.argparser.error(
                 'You may not specify --count and an operation (--mean, --median, etc) at the same time.')
 
-        if six.PY2:
-            self.output_file = codecs.getwriter('utf-8')(self.output_file)
-
         if self.args.count_only:
             count = len(list(agate.csv.reader(self.skip_lines(), **self.reader_kwargs)))
 
@@ -228,13 +223,13 @@ def print_one(self, table, column_id, operation, label=True, **kwargs):
 
         # Formatting
         if op_name == 'freq':
-            stat = ', '.join([(u'"%s": %s' % (six.text_type(row['value']), row['count'])) for row in stat])
-            stat = u'{ %s }' % stat
+            stat = ', '.join([('"%s": %s' % (str(row['value']), row['count'])) for row in stat])
+            stat = '{ %s }' % stat
 
         if label:
-            self.output_file.write(u'%3i. %s: %s\n' % (column_id + 1, column_name, stat))
+            self.output_file.write('%3i. %s: %s\n' % (column_id + 1, column_name, stat))
         else:
-            self.output_file.write(u'%s\n' % stat)
+            self.output_file.write('%s\n' % stat)
 
     def calculate_stats(self, table, column_id, **kwargs):
         """
@@ -281,7 +276,7 @@ def print_stats(self, table, column_ids, stats):
                 if column_stats[op_name] is None:
                     continue
 
-                label = u'{label:{label_column_width}}'.format(**{
+                label = '{label:{label_column_width}}'.format(**{
                     'label_column_width': label_column_width,
                     'label': op_data['label']
                 })
@@ -291,7 +286,7 @@ def print_stats(self, table, column_ids, stats):
                         if i == 0:
                             self.output_file.write('\t{} '.format(label))
                         else:
-                            self.output_file.write(u'\t{label:{label_column_width}} '.format(**{
+                            self.output_file.write('\t{label:{label_column_width}} '.format(**{
                                 'label_column_width': label_column_width,
                                 'label': ''
                             }))
@@ -302,9 +297,9 @@ def print_stats(self, table, column_ids, stats):
                             if self.is_finite_decimal(v):
                                 v = format_decimal(v, self.args.decimal_format, self.args.no_grouping_separator)
                         else:
-                            v = six.text_type(row['value'])
+                            v = str(row['value'])
 
-                        self.output_file.write(u'{} ({}x)\n'.format(v, row['count']))
+                        self.output_file.write('{} ({}x)\n'.format(v, row['count']))
 
                     continue
 
@@ -315,7 +310,7 @@ def print_stats(self, table, column_ids, stats):
                 elif op_name == 'len':
                     v = '%s characters' % v
 
-                self.output_file.write(u'\t{} {}\n'.format(label, v))
+                self.output_file.write('\t{} {}\n'.format(label, v))
 
             self.output_file.write('\n')
 
@@ -343,7 +338,7 @@ def print_csv(self, table, column_ids, stats):
                     continue
 
                 if op_name == 'freq':
-                    value = ', '.join([six.text_type(row['value']) for row in column_stats['freq']])
+                    value = ', '.join([str(row['value']) for row in column_stats['freq']])
                 else:
                     value = column_stats[op_name]
 
diff --git a/csvkit/utilities/in2csv.py b/csvkit/utilities/in2csv.py
index 2fdcd06f5..49f407f33 100644
--- a/csvkit/utilities/in2csv.py
+++ b/csvkit/utilities/in2csv.py
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import sys
+from io import BytesIO
 from os.path import splitext
 
 import agate
 import agatedbf  # noqa: F401
 import agateexcel  # noqa: F401
 import openpyxl
-import six
 import xlrd
 
 from csvkit import convert
@@ -25,13 +25,6 @@ class In2CSV(CSVKitUtility):
     override_flags = ['f']
 
     def add_arguments(self):
-        # I feel that there ought to be a better way to do this across Python 2 and 3.
-        def option_parser(bytestring):
-            if six.PY2:
-                return bytestring.decode(sys.getfilesystemencoding())
-            else:
-                return bytestring
-
         self.argparser.add_argument(
             metavar='FILE', nargs='?', dest='input_path',
             help='The CSV file to operate on. If omitted, will accept input as piped data via STDIN.')
@@ -48,10 +41,10 @@ def option_parser(bytestring):
             '-n', '--names', dest='names_only', action='store_true',
             help='Display sheet names from the input Excel file.')
         self.argparser.add_argument(
-            '--sheet', dest='sheet', type=option_parser,
+            '--sheet', dest='sheet',
             help='The name of the Excel sheet to operate on.')
         self.argparser.add_argument(
-            '--write-sheets', dest='write_sheets', type=option_parser,
+            '--write-sheets', dest='write_sheets',
             help='The names of the Excel sheets to write to files, or "-" to write all sheets.')
         self.argparser.add_argument(
             '--encoding-xls', dest='encoding_xls',
@@ -66,12 +59,8 @@ def option_parser(bytestring):
 
     def open_excel_input_file(self, path):
         if not path or path == '-':
-            if six.PY2:
-                return six.BytesIO(sys.stdin.read())
-            else:
-                return six.BytesIO(sys.stdin.buffer.read())
-        else:
-            return open(path, 'rb')
+            return BytesIO(sys.stdin.buffer.read())
+        return open(path, 'rb')
 
     def sheet_names(self, path, filetype):
         input_file = self.open_excel_input_file(path)
diff --git a/csvkit/utilities/sql2csv.py b/csvkit/utilities/sql2csv.py
index c4e855d11..d2cf39f41 100644
--- a/csvkit/utilities/sql2csv.py
+++ b/csvkit/utilities/sql2csv.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import agate
-import six
 from sqlalchemy import create_engine
 
 from csvkit.cli import CSVKitUtility
@@ -48,13 +47,13 @@ def main(self):
         try:
             engine = create_engine(self.args.connection_string)
         except ImportError as e:
-            six.raise_from(ImportError(
+            raise ImportError(
                 "You don't appear to have the necessary database backend installed for connection string you're "
                 "trying to use. Available backends include:\n\nPostgreSQL:\tpip install psycopg2\nMySQL:\t\tpip "
                 "install mysql-connector-python OR pip install mysqlclient\n\nFor details on connection strings "
                 "and other backends, please see the SQLAlchemy documentation on dialects at:\n\n"
                 "http://www.sqlalchemy.org/docs/dialects/\n\n"
-            ), e)
+            ) from e
 
         connection = engine.connect()
 
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index a6a6da20f..39c336b8d 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@
 master_doc = 'index'
 
 # General information about the project.
-project = u'csvkit'
-copyright = u'2016, Christopher Groskopf'
+project = 'csvkit'
+copyright = '2016, Christopher Groskopf'
 
 # The version info for the project you're documenting, acts as replacement for
 # |version| and |release|, also used in various other places throughout the
@@ -78,8 +78,8 @@
 # One entry per manual page. List of tuples
 # (source start file, name, description, authors, manual section).
 man_pages = [
-    #    ('scripts/csvcut', 'csvcut', u'csvcut Documentation',
-    #     [u'Christopher Groskopf'], 1),
+    #    ('scripts/csvcut', 'csvcut', 'csvcut Documentation',
+    #     ['Christopher Groskopf'], 1),
 ]
 
 for filename in os.listdir('scripts'):
@@ -88,6 +88,6 @@
         os.path.join('scripts', name),
         name,
         '%s Documentation' % name,
-        [u'Christopher Groskopf'],
+        ['Christopher Groskopf'],
         1
     ))
diff --git a/docs/scripts/csvpy.rst b/docs/scripts/csvpy.rst
index 960962d38..2aae57699 100644
--- a/docs/scripts/csvpy.rst
+++ b/docs/scripts/csvpy.rst
@@ -41,14 +41,14 @@ Basic use::
     csvpy examples/dummy.csv
     Welcome! "examples/dummy.csv" has been loaded in a reader object named "reader".
     >>> reader.next()
-    [u'a', u'b', u'c']
+    ['a', 'b', 'c']
 
 As a dictionary::
 
     csvpy --dict examples/dummy.csv
     Welcome! "examples/dummy.csv" has been loaded in a DictReader object named "reader".
     >>> reader.next()
-    {u'a': u'1', u'c': u'3', u'b': u'2'}
+    {'a': '1', 'c': '3', 'b': '2'}
 
 As an agate table::
 
diff --git a/docs/tricks.rst b/docs/tricks.rst
index 365e4496b..0367f14c3 100644
--- a/docs/tricks.rst
+++ b/docs/tricks.rst
@@ -79,14 +79,6 @@ Or if you see ``/usr/local/bin/pip: bad interpreter`` and have Python 3 installe
 
     python3 -m pip install csvkit
 
-If you use Python 2 and have a recent version of pip, you may need to run pip with :code:`--allow-external argparse`.
-
-If you use Python 2 on FreeBSD, you may need to install `py-sqlite3 <https://www.freshports.org/databases/py-sqlite3/>`_.
-
-.. note ::
-
-    Need more speed? If you use Python 2, :code:`pip install cdecimal` for a boost.
-
 CSV formatting and parsing
 --------------------------
 
@@ -148,7 +140,7 @@ Python standard output encoding errors
 
 If, when running a command like :code:`csvlook dummy.csv | less` you get an error like::
 
-    'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\u0105' in position 2: ordinal not in range(128)
+    'ascii' codec can't encode character '\u0105' in position 2: ordinal not in range(128)
 
 The simplest option is to set the encoding that Python uses for standard streams, using the :code:`PYTHONIOENCODING` environment variable::
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 339f8100b..95bc2b6ce 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -62,14 +62,12 @@
         'agate-excel>=0.2.2',
         'agate-dbf>=0.2.2',
         'agate-sql>=0.5.3',
-        'six>=1.6.1',
     ],
     extras_require={
         'test': [
             'coverage>=4.4.2',
             'pytest',
             'pytest-cov',
-            'mock>=1.3.0;python_version<"3"',
         ],
         'docs': [
             'sphinx>=1.0.7',
diff --git a/tests/test_convert/test_fixed.py b/tests/test_convert/test_fixed.py
index 02e3a3b47..d8852c42b 100644
--- a/tests/test_convert/test_fixed.py
+++ b/tests/test_convert/test_fixed.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
-import six
+from io import StringIO
 
 from csvkit.convert import fixed
 from csvkit.utilities.in2csv import In2CSV
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ def test_fixed_skip_lines(self):
             self.assertEqual(f.read(), output)
 
     def test_fixed_no_inference(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('     1   2 3')
+        input_file = StringIO('     1   2 3')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             self.assertLines(['--no-inference', '-f', 'fixed', '--schema',
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ def test_fixed_no_inference(self):
     def test_fixed_streaming(self):
         with open('examples/testfixed', 'r') as f:
             with open('examples/testfixed_schema.csv', 'r') as schema:
-                output_file = six.StringIO()
+                output_file = StringIO()
                 fixed.fixed2csv(f, schema, output=output_file)
                 output = output_file.getvalue()
                 output_file.close()
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ def test_schematic_line_parser(self):
 bar,6,2
 baz,8,5"""
 
-        f = six.StringIO(schema)
+        f = StringIO(schema)
         parser = fixed.FixedWidthRowParser(f)
         f.close()
 
diff --git a/tests/test_grep.py b/tests/test_grep.py
index 18b797788..acdc3adab 100644
--- a/tests/test_grep.py
+++ b/tests/test_grep.py
@@ -12,17 +12,17 @@ class TestGrep(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         self.tab1 = [
             ['id', 'name', 'i_work_here'],
-            [u'1', u'Chicago Reader', u'first'],
-            [u'2', u'Chicago Sun-Times', u'only'],
-            [u'3', u'Chicago Tribune', u'only'],
-            [u'1', u'Chicago Reader', u'second']]
+            ['1', 'Chicago Reader', 'first'],
+            ['2', 'Chicago Sun-Times', 'only'],
+            ['3', 'Chicago Tribune', 'only'],
+            ['1', 'Chicago Reader', 'second']]
 
         self.tab2 = [
             ['id', 'age', 'i_work_here'],
-            [u'1', u'first', u'0'],
-            [u'4', u'only', u'0'],
-            [u'1', u'second', u'0'],
-            [u'2', u'only', u'0', u'0']]  # Note extra value in this column
+            ['1', 'first', '0'],
+            ['4', 'only', '0'],
+            ['1', 'second', '0'],
+            ['2', 'only', '0', '0']]  # Note extra value in this column
 
     def test_pattern(self):
         fcr = FilteringCSVReader(iter(self.tab1), patterns=['1'])
diff --git a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvclean.py b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvclean.py
index 0f0baa598..32790773a 100644
--- a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvclean.py
+++ b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvclean.py
@@ -3,13 +3,8 @@
 
 import os
 import sys
-
-import six
-
-try:
-    from mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
+from io import StringIO
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 from csvkit.utilities.csvclean import CSVClean, launch_new_instance
 from tests.utils import CSVKitTestCase, EmptyFileTests
@@ -25,7 +20,7 @@ def tearDown(self):
 
     def assertCleaned(self, basename, output_lines, error_lines, additional_args=[]):
         args = ['examples/%s.csv' % basename] + additional_args
-        output_file = six.StringIO()
+        output_file = StringIO()
 
         utility = CSVClean(args, output_file)
         utility.run()
diff --git a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvcut.py b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvcut.py
index db6f47447..6dcf40896 100644
--- a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvcut.py
+++ b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvcut.py
@@ -2,11 +2,7 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 import sys
-
-try:
-    from mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 from csvkit.utilities.csvcut import CSVCut, launch_new_instance
 from tests.utils import ColumnsTests, CSVKitTestCase, EmptyFileTests, NamesTests
@@ -41,7 +37,7 @@ def test_unicode(self):
         self.assertRows(['-c', '1,3', 'examples/test_utf8.csv'], [
             ['foo', 'baz'],
             ['1', '3'],
-            ['4', u'ʤ'],
+            ['4', 'ʤ'],
         ])
 
     def test_with_gzip(self):
diff --git a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvformat.py b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvformat.py
index 78e8cdead..9a0cd4bb4 100644
--- a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvformat.py
+++ b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvformat.py
@@ -2,13 +2,8 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 import sys
-
-import six
-
-try:
-    from mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
+from io import StringIO
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 from csvkit.utilities.csvformat import CSVFormat, launch_new_instance
 from tests.utils import CSVKitTestCase, EmptyFileTests, stdin_as_string
@@ -52,7 +47,7 @@ def test_tab_delimiter(self):
         ])
 
     def test_quotechar(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('a,b,c\n1*2,3,4\n')
+        input_file = StringIO('a,b,c\n1*2,3,4\n')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             self.assertLines(['-Q', '*'], [
@@ -63,7 +58,7 @@ def test_quotechar(self):
         input_file.close()
 
     def test_doublequote(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('a\n"a ""quoted"" string"')
+        input_file = StringIO('a\n"a ""quoted"" string"')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             self.assertLines(['-P', '#', '-B'], [
@@ -74,7 +69,7 @@ def test_doublequote(self):
         input_file.close()
 
     def test_escapechar(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('a,b,c\n1"2,3,4\n')
+        input_file = StringIO('a,b,c\n1"2,3,4\n')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             self.assertLines(['-P', '#', '-U', '3'], [
diff --git a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvgrep.py b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvgrep.py
index c15904668..7ffda81f9 100644
--- a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvgrep.py
+++ b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvgrep.py
@@ -2,11 +2,7 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 import sys
-
-try:
-    from mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 from csvkit.utilities.csvgrep import CSVGrep, launch_new_instance
 from tests.utils import ColumnsTests, CSVKitTestCase, EmptyFileTests, NamesTests
@@ -42,13 +38,13 @@ def test_any_match(self):
     def test_match_utf8(self):
         self.assertRows(['-c', '3', '-m', 'ʤ', 'examples/test_utf8.csv'], [
             ['foo', 'bar', 'baz'],
-            ['4', '5', u'ʤ'],
+            ['4', '5', 'ʤ'],
         ])
 
     def test_match_utf8_bom(self):
         self.assertRows(['-c', '3', '-m', 'ʤ', 'examples/test_utf8_bom.csv'], [
             ['foo', 'bar', 'baz'],
-            ['4', '5', u'ʤ'],
+            ['4', '5', 'ʤ'],
         ])
 
     def test_no_match(self):
@@ -71,7 +67,7 @@ def test_re_match(self):
     def test_re_match_utf8(self):
         self.assertRows(['-c', '3', '-r', 'ʤ', 'examples/test_utf8.csv'], [
             ['foo', 'bar', 'baz'],
-            ['4', '5', u'ʤ'],
+            ['4', '5', 'ʤ'],
         ])
 
     def test_string_match(self):
diff --git a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvjoin.py b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvjoin.py
index 936f3019c..334e85d7a 100644
--- a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvjoin.py
+++ b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvjoin.py
@@ -1,11 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import sys
-
-try:
-    from mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 from csvkit.utilities.csvjoin import CSVJoin, launch_new_instance
 from tests.utils import CSVKitTestCase, EmptyFileTests
diff --git a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvjson.py b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvjson.py
index e5351b825..cf0c6e779 100644
--- a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvjson.py
+++ b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvjson.py
@@ -3,13 +3,8 @@
 
 import json
 import sys
-
-import six
-
-try:
-    from mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
+from io import StringIO
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 from csvkit.utilities.csvjson import CSVJSON, launch_new_instance
 from tests.utils import CSVKitTestCase, EmptyFileTests
@@ -59,18 +54,18 @@ def test_indentation(self):
         output = self.get_output(['-i', '4', 'examples/dummy.csv'])
         js = json.loads(output)
         self.assertDictEqual(js[0], {'a': True, 'c': 3.0, 'b': 2.0})
-        six.assertRegex(self, output, '        "a": true,')
+        self.assertRegex(output, '        "a": true,')
 
     def test_keying(self):
         js = json.loads(self.get_output(['-k', 'a', 'examples/dummy.csv']))
         self.assertDictEqual(js, {'True': {'a': True, 'c': 3.0, 'b': 2.0}})
 
     def test_duplicate_keys(self):
-        output_file = six.StringIO()
+        output_file = StringIO()
         utility = CSVJSON(['-k', 'a', 'examples/dummy3.csv'], output_file)
-        six.assertRaisesRegex(self, ValueError,
-                              'Value True is not unique in the key column.',
-                              utility.run)
+        self.assertRaisesRegex(ValueError,
+                               'Value True is not unique in the key column.',
+                               utility.run)
         output_file.close()
 
     def test_geojson_with_id(self):
diff --git a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvlook.py b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvlook.py
index 334dfb020..4e95e2fbe 100644
--- a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvlook.py
+++ b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvlook.py
@@ -2,13 +2,8 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 import sys
-
-import six
-
-try:
-    from mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
+from io import StringIO
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 from csvkit.utilities.csvlook import CSVLook, launch_new_instance
 from tests.utils import CSVKitTestCase, EmptyFileTests, stdin_as_string
@@ -22,26 +17,20 @@ def test_launch_new_instance(self):
             launch_new_instance()
 
     def test_runs(self):
-        if six.PY2:
-            self.get_output(['examples/test_utf8.csv'])
-        else:
-            self.assertLines(['examples/test_utf8.csv'], [
-                '| foo | bar | baz |',
-                '| --- | --- | --- |',
-                '|   1 |   2 | 3   |',
-                '|   4 |   5 | ʤ   |',
-            ])
+        self.assertLines(['examples/test_utf8.csv'], [
+            '| foo | bar | baz |',
+            '| --- | --- | --- |',
+            '|   1 |   2 | 3   |',
+            '|   4 |   5 | ʤ   |',
+        ])
 
     def test_encoding(self):
-        if six.PY2:
-            self.get_output(['-e', 'latin1', 'examples/test_latin1.csv'])
-        else:
-            self.assertLines(['-e', 'latin1', 'examples/test_latin1.csv'], [
-                '| a | b | c |',
-                '| - | - | - |',
-                '| 1 | 2 | 3 |',
-                '| 4 | 5 | © |',
-            ])
+        self.assertLines(['-e', 'latin1', 'examples/test_latin1.csv'], [
+            '| a | b | c |',
+            '| - | - | - |',
+            '| 1 | 2 | 3 |',
+            '| 4 | 5 | © |',
+        ])
 
     def test_simple(self):
         self.assertLines(['examples/dummy3.csv'], [
@@ -78,7 +67,7 @@ def test_unicode(self):
             '| foo | bar | baz |',
             '| --- | --- | --- |',
             '|   1 |   2 | 3   |',
-            u'|   4 |   5 | ʤ   |',
+            '|   4 |   5 | ʤ   |',
         ])
 
     def test_unicode_bom(self):
@@ -86,7 +75,7 @@ def test_unicode_bom(self):
             '| foo | bar | baz |',
             '| --- | --- | --- |',
             '|   1 |   2 | 3   |',
-            u'|   4 |   5 | ʤ   |',
+            '|   4 |   5 | ʤ   |',
         ])
 
     def test_linenumbers(self):
@@ -141,7 +130,7 @@ def test_max_column_width(self):
         ])
 
     def test_stdin(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('a,b,c\n1,2,3\n4,5,6\n')
+        input_file = StringIO('a,b,c\n1,2,3\n4,5,6\n')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             self.assertLines([], [
diff --git a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvsort.py b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvsort.py
index 5da61ae32..f3f8a7b01 100644
--- a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvsort.py
+++ b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvsort.py
@@ -2,13 +2,8 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 import sys
-
-import six
-
-try:
-    from mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
+from io import StringIO
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 from csvkit.utilities.csvsort import CSVSort, launch_new_instance
 from tests.utils import ColumnsTests, CSVKitTestCase, EmptyFileTests, NamesTests, stdin_as_string
@@ -22,37 +17,31 @@ def test_launch_new_instance(self):
             launch_new_instance()
 
     def test_runs(self):
-        if six.PY2:
-            self.get_output(['examples/test_utf8.csv'])
-        else:
-            self.assertRows(['examples/test_utf8.csv'], [
-                ['foo', 'bar', 'baz'],
-                ['1', '2', '3'],
-                ['4', '5', 'ʤ'],
-            ])
+        self.assertRows(['examples/test_utf8.csv'], [
+            ['foo', 'bar', 'baz'],
+            ['1', '2', '3'],
+            ['4', '5', 'ʤ'],
+        ])
 
     def test_encoding(self):
-        if six.PY2:
-            self.get_output(['-e', 'latin1', 'examples/test_latin1.csv'])
-        else:
-            self.assertRows(['-e', 'latin1', 'examples/test_latin1.csv'], [
-                ['a', 'b', 'c'],
-                ['1', '2', '3'],
-                ['4', '5', '©'],
-            ])
+        self.assertRows(['-e', 'latin1', 'examples/test_latin1.csv'], [
+            ['a', 'b', 'c'],
+            ['1', '2', '3'],
+            ['4', '5', '©'],
+        ])
 
     def test_sort_string_reverse(self):
         reader = self.get_output_as_reader(['-c', '1', '-r', 'examples/testxls_converted.csv'])
-        test_order = [u'text', u'Unicode! Σ', u'This row has blanks',
-                      u'Chicago Tribune', u'Chicago Sun-Times', u'Chicago Reader']
-        new_order = [six.text_type(r[0]) for r in reader]
+        test_order = ['text', 'Unicode! Σ', 'This row has blanks',
+                      'Chicago Tribune', 'Chicago Sun-Times', 'Chicago Reader']
+        new_order = [str(r[0]) for r in reader]
         self.assertEqual(test_order, new_order)
 
     def test_sort_date(self):
         reader = self.get_output_as_reader(['-c', '2', 'examples/testxls_converted.csv'])
-        test_order = [u'text', u'Chicago Tribune', u'Chicago Sun-Times',
-                      u'Chicago Reader', u'This row has blanks', u'Unicode! Σ']
-        new_order = [six.text_type(r[0]) for r in reader]
+        test_order = ['text', 'Chicago Tribune', 'Chicago Sun-Times',
+                      'Chicago Reader', 'This row has blanks', 'Unicode! Σ']
+        new_order = [str(r[0]) for r in reader]
         self.assertEqual(test_order, new_order)
 
     def test_no_blanks(self):
@@ -81,18 +70,18 @@ def test_no_header_row(self):
 
     def test_no_inference(self):
         reader = self.get_output_as_reader(['--no-inference', '-c', '1', 'examples/test_literal_order.csv'])
-        test_order = [u'a', u'192', u'27', u'3']
-        new_order = [six.text_type(r[0]) for r in reader]
+        test_order = ['a', '192', '27', '3']
+        new_order = [str(r[0]) for r in reader]
         self.assertEqual(test_order, new_order)
 
     def test_sort_t_and_nulls(self):
         reader = self.get_output_as_reader(['-c', '2', 'examples/sort_ints_nulls.csv'])
         test_order = ['b', '1', '2', '']
-        new_order = [six.text_type(r[1]) for r in reader]
+        new_order = [str(r[1]) for r in reader]
         self.assertEqual(test_order, new_order)
 
     def test_stdin(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('a,b,c\n4,5,6\n1,2,3\n')
+        input_file = StringIO('a,b,c\n4,5,6\n1,2,3\n')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             self.assertLines([], [
diff --git a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvsql.py b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvsql.py
index 06f3083c5..037317fa2 100644
--- a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvsql.py
+++ b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvsql.py
@@ -3,16 +3,12 @@
 
 import os
 import sys
+from io import StringIO
 from textwrap import dedent
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
-import six
 from sqlalchemy.exc import IntegrityError, OperationalError
 
-try:
-    from mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
-
 from csvkit.utilities.csvsql import CSVSQL, launch_new_instance
 from csvkit.utilities.sql2csv import SQL2CSV
 from tests.utils import CSVKitTestCase, EmptyFileTests, stdin_as_string
@@ -117,7 +113,7 @@ def test_linenumbers(self):
         '''))  # noqa: W291
 
     def test_stdin(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('a,b,c\n4,2,3\n')
+        input_file = StringIO('a,b,c\n4,2,3\n')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             sql = self.get_output(['--tables', 'foo'])
@@ -133,7 +129,7 @@ def test_stdin(self):
         input_file.close()
 
     def test_stdin_and_filename(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO("a,b,c\n1,2,3\n")
+        input_file = StringIO("a,b,c\n1,2,3\n")
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             sql = self.get_output(['-', 'examples/dummy.csv'])
@@ -144,7 +140,7 @@ def test_stdin_and_filename(self):
         input_file.close()
 
     def test_query(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO("a,b,c\n1,2,3\n")
+        input_file = StringIO("a,b,c\n1,2,3\n")
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             sql = self.get_output(['--query', 'SELECT m.usda_id, avg(i.sepal_length) AS mean_sepal_length FROM iris '
@@ -159,7 +155,7 @@ def test_query(self):
         input_file.close()
 
     def test_query_empty(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO()
+        input_file = StringIO()
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             output = self.get_output(['--query', 'SELECT 1'])
@@ -194,14 +190,14 @@ def test_before_after_insert(self):
                          'SELECT 1; CREATE TABLE foobar (date DATE)', '--after-insert',
                          'INSERT INTO dummy VALUES (0, 5, 6)'])
 
-        output_file = six.StringIO()
+        output_file = StringIO()
         utility = SQL2CSV(['--db', 'sqlite:///' + self.db_file, '--query', 'SELECT * FROM foobar'], output_file)
         utility.run()
         output = output_file.getvalue()
         output_file.close()
         self.assertEqual(output, 'date\n')
 
-        output_file = six.StringIO()
+        output_file = StringIO()
         utility = SQL2CSV(['--db', 'sqlite:///' + self.db_file, '--query', 'SELECT * FROM dummy'], output_file)
         utility.run()
         output = output_file.getvalue()
diff --git a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvstack.py b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvstack.py
index ae7cdb033..7bf5682ea 100644
--- a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvstack.py
+++ b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvstack.py
@@ -1,11 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import sys
-
-try:
-    from mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 from csvkit.utilities.csvstack import CSVStack, launch_new_instance
 from tests.utils import CSVKitTestCase, EmptyFileTests
diff --git a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvstat.py b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvstat.py
index bc749b293..ac8648125 100644
--- a/tests/test_utilities/test_csvstat.py
+++ b/tests/test_utilities/test_csvstat.py
@@ -1,14 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import sys
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 import agate
-import six
-
-try:
-    from mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
 
 from csvkit.utilities.csvstat import CSVStat, launch_new_instance
 from tests.utils import ColumnsTests, CSVKitTestCase, EmptyFileTests, NamesTests
@@ -50,11 +45,11 @@ def test_count_only(self):
 
     def test_unique(self):
         output = self.get_output(['-c', 'county', 'examples/realdata/ks_1033_data.csv'])
-        six.assertRegex(self, output, r'Unique values:\s+73')
+        self.assertRegex(output, r'Unique values:\s+73')
 
     def test_max_length(self):
         output = self.get_output(['-c', 'county', 'examples/realdata/ks_1033_data.csv'])
-        six.assertRegex(self, output, r'Longest value:\s+12')
+        self.assertRegex(output, r'Longest value:\s+12')
 
     def test_freq_list(self):
         output = self.get_output(['examples/realdata/ks_1033_data.csv'])
diff --git a/tests/test_utilities/test_in2csv.py b/tests/test_utilities/test_in2csv.py
index eb000882f..f5f439428 100644
--- a/tests/test_utilities/test_in2csv.py
+++ b/tests/test_utilities/test_in2csv.py
@@ -3,13 +3,8 @@
 
 import os
 import sys
-
-import six
-
-try:
-    from mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
+from io import StringIO
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 from csvkit.utilities.in2csv import In2CSV, launch_new_instance
 from tests.utils import CSVKitTestCase, EmptyFileTests, stdin_as_string
@@ -127,7 +122,7 @@ def test_names(self):
         self.assertLines(['--names', 'examples/sheets.xlsx'], [
             'not this one',
             'data',
-            u'ʤ',
+            'ʤ',
         ])
 
     def test_csv_no_headers(self):
@@ -139,7 +134,7 @@ def test_csv_no_headers_streaming(self):
                              ['--no-header-row', '--no-inference', '--snifflimit', '0'])
 
     def test_csv_datetime_inference(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('a\n2015-01-01T00:00:00Z')
+        input_file = StringIO('a\n2015-01-01T00:00:00Z')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             self.assertLines(['-f', 'csv'], [
@@ -168,7 +163,7 @@ def test_xlsx_no_inference(self):
         ])
 
     def test_geojson_no_inference(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO(
+        input_file = StringIO(
             '{"a": 1, "b": 2, "type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [{"geometry": {}, "properties": '
             '{"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3}}]}')
 
@@ -181,7 +176,7 @@ def test_geojson_no_inference(self):
         input_file.close()
 
     def test_json_no_inference(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('[{"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3}]')
+        input_file = StringIO('[{"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3}]')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             self.assertLines(['--no-inference', '-f', 'json'], [
@@ -192,7 +187,7 @@ def test_json_no_inference(self):
         input_file.close()
 
     def test_ndjson_no_inference(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('{"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3}')
+        input_file = StringIO('{"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3}')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             self.assertLines(['--no-inference', '-f', 'ndjson'], [
diff --git a/tests/test_utilities/test_sql2csv.py b/tests/test_utilities/test_sql2csv.py
index 049c07ac2..5147fb9d7 100644
--- a/tests/test_utilities/test_sql2csv.py
+++ b/tests/test_utilities/test_sql2csv.py
@@ -2,13 +2,8 @@
 
 import os
 import sys
-
-import six
-
-try:
-    from mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
+from io import StringIO
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 try:
     import psycopg2  # noqa: F401
@@ -78,7 +73,7 @@ def test_file_with_query(self):
         self.assertTrue('54' in csv)
 
     def test_stdin(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('select cast(3.1415 * 13.37 as integer) as answer')
+        input_file = StringIO('select cast(3.1415 * 13.37 as integer) as answer')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             csv = self.get_output([])
@@ -89,7 +84,7 @@ def test_stdin(self):
         input_file.close()
 
     def test_stdin_with_query(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('select cast(3.1415 * 13.37 as integer) as answer')
+        input_file = StringIO('select cast(3.1415 * 13.37 as integer) as answer')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             csv = self.get_output(['--query', 'select 6*9 as question'])
@@ -100,7 +95,7 @@ def test_stdin_with_query(self):
         input_file.close()
 
     def test_stdin_with_file(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('select cast(3.1415 * 13.37 as integer) as answer')
+        input_file = StringIO('select cast(3.1415 * 13.37 as integer) as answer')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             csv = self.get_output(['examples/test.sql'])
@@ -111,7 +106,7 @@ def test_stdin_with_file(self):
         input_file.close()
 
     def test_stdin_with_file_and_query(self):
-        input_file = six.StringIO('select cast(3.1415 * 13.37 as integer) as answer')
+        input_file = StringIO('select cast(3.1415 * 13.37 as integer) as answer')
 
         with stdin_as_string(input_file):
             csv = self.get_output(['examples/test.sql', '--query', 'select 6*9 as question'])
diff --git a/tests/utils.py b/tests/utils.py
index 3ade6cf84..ae64ad7ee 100644
--- a/tests/utils.py
+++ b/tests/utils.py
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@
 import unittest
 import warnings
 from contextlib import contextmanager
+from io import StringIO
 
 import agate
-import six
 
 from csvkit.exceptions import ColumnIdentifierError, RequiredHeaderError
 
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ class CSVKitTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     warnings.filterwarnings(action='ignore', module='agate')
 
     def get_output(self, args):
-        output_file = six.StringIO()
+        output_file = StringIO()
 
         utility = self.Utility(args, output_file)
         utility.run()
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ def get_output(self, args):
         return output
 
     def get_output_as_io(self, args):
-        return six.StringIO(self.get_output(args))
+        return StringIO(self.get_output(args))
 
     def get_output_as_list(self, args):
         return self.get_output(args).split('\n')
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ def assertLines(self, args, rows, newline_at_eof=True):
         self.assertEqual(len(lines), len(rows))
 
 
-class EmptyFileTests(object):
+class EmptyFileTests:
     def test_empty(self):
         with open('examples/empty.csv') as f:
             with stdin_as_string(f):
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ def test_empty(self):
                 utility.run()
 
 
-class NamesTests(object):
+class NamesTests:
     def test_names(self):
         output = self.get_output_as_io(['-n', 'examples/dummy.csv'])
 
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ def test_names(self):
     def test_invalid_options(self):
         args = ['-n', '--no-header-row', 'examples/dummy.csv']
 
-        output_file = six.StringIO()
+        output_file = StringIO()
         utility = self.Utility(args, output_file)
 
         with self.assertRaises(RequiredHeaderError):
@@ -117,11 +117,11 @@ def test_invalid_options(self):
         output_file.close()
 
 
-class ColumnsTests(object):
+class ColumnsTests:
     def test_invalid_column(self):
         args = getattr(self, 'columns_args', []) + ['-c', '0', 'examples/dummy.csv']
 
-        output_file = six.StringIO()
+        output_file = StringIO()
         utility = self.Utility(args, output_file)
 
         with self.assertRaises(ColumnIdentifierError):