diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ab0e7324
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2025-2026 PolicyEngine
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9c2f2e9f..f8792416 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -42,3 +42,7 @@ pip install microimpute[images]
 ## Contributing
 
 Pull requests are welcome. If you find a bug or have a feature idea, open an issue or submit a PR.
+
+## License
+
+PolicyEngine releases the code in this repository under the [MIT License](https://github.com/PolicyEngine/microimpute/blob/main/LICENSE), and its original text and figures under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) with attribution to PolicyEngine. Third-party data and materials keep their own terms. The optional `matching` extra installs rpy2, which its authors license under GPL-2.0-or-later. The paper notebook `paper/imputing-from-scf-to-cps.ipynb` imports policyengine-us and policyengine-core, which carry AGPL-3.0.
diff --git a/changelog.d/license-mit.added.md b/changelog.d/license-mit.added.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b3957c80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/license-mit.added.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Release microimpute under the MIT License and declare the license in the package metadata.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 22cba6a4..e56e5d7e 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [build-system]
 requires = [
-  "setuptools>=61.0",
+  "setuptools>=77.0",
   "wheel",
 ]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ name = "microimpute"
 version = "3.2.0"
 description = "Benchmarking imputation methods for microdata"
 readme = "README.md"
+license = "MIT"
+license-files = ["LICENSE"]
 authors = [
     { name = "Vahid Ahmadi", email = "vahid@policyengine.org" },
     { name = "Max Ghenis", email = "max@policyengine.org" },