diff --git a/sympy/utilities/autowrap.py b/sympy/utilities/autowrap.py
index cadeb28f5357..a1dcdbb185b8 100644
--- a/sympy/utilities/autowrap.py
+++ b/sympy/utilities/autowrap.py
@@ -254,6 +254,8 @@ class CythonCodeWrapper(CodeWrapper):
 setup(ext_modules=cythonize(ext_mods, **cy_opts))
 """
 
+    _cythonize_options = {'compiler_directives':{'language_level' : "3"}}
+
     pyx_imports = (
         "import numpy as np\n"
         "cimport numpy as np\n\n")
@@ -309,7 +311,7 @@ def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         self._extra_compile_args = kwargs.pop('extra_compile_args', [])
         self._extra_compile_args.append(self.std_compile_flag)
         self._extra_link_args = kwargs.pop('extra_link_args', [])
-        self._cythonize_options = kwargs.pop('cythonize_options', {})
+        self._cythonize_options = kwargs.pop('cythonize_options', self._cythonize_options)
 
         self._need_numpy = False
 
diff --git a/sympy/utilities/tests/test_autowrap.py b/sympy/utilities/tests/test_autowrap.py
index 6a03eb77fce1..8e3344864830 100644
--- a/sympy/utilities/tests/test_autowrap.py
+++ b/sympy/utilities/tests/test_autowrap.py
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ def test_cython_wrapper_compile_flags():
     from distutils.core import setup
     from distutils.extension import Extension
 from Cython.Build import cythonize
-cy_opts = {}
+cy_opts = {'compiler_directives': {'language_level': '3'}}
 
 ext_mods = [Extension(
     'wrapper_module_%(num)s', ['wrapper_module_%(num)s.pyx', 'wrapped_code_%(num)s.c'],