diff --git a/scripts/lib/install b/scripts/lib/install
index 994c27cf9b..7f2b4b61c1 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/install
+++ b/scripts/lib/install
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -e
 
+# Ensure that we're using a US locale, since some pip dependencies
+# can't install in random locales.
+export LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8"
+export LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
+
 usage() {
     echo "Usage: install [--hostname=zulip.example.com] [--email=admin@example.com] [--help]"
     exit 0
diff --git a/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-stage-2 b/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-stage-2
index c5f6435a2c..7063af6450 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-stage-2
+++ b/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-stage-2
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ import sys
 import logging
 
 os.environ["PYTHONUNBUFFERED"] = "y"
+# Ensure that we're using a US locale, since some pip dependencies
+# can't install in random locales.
+os.environ['LC_ALL'] = "en_US.UTF-8"
+os.environ['LC_CTYPE'] = "en_US.UTF-8"
 
 sys.path.append(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', '..'))
 from scripts.lib.zulip_tools import DEPLOYMENTS_DIR, FAIL, WARNING, ENDC, su_to_zulip