diff --git a/build/pkgs/pyzmq/spkg-install.in b/build/pkgs/pyzmq/spkg-install.in
index 4f469e35307..069d87767f8 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/pyzmq/spkg-install.in
+++ b/build/pkgs/pyzmq/spkg-install.in
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ cd src
 # Generate setup.cfg
 cat > setup.cfg <<EOF
 [global]
-zmq_prefix = $SAGE_LOCAL/sage/local
+zmq_prefix = $SAGE_LOCAL
 no_libzmq_extension = True
 EOF