diff --git a/.env b/.env
index 00657df..17408f0 100644
--- a/.env
+++ b/.env
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 PYTHON_IMPLEMENTATION=python
-PYTHON_VERSION=3.12
+PYTHON_VERSION=3.13
 MARIADB_VERSION=10.6
 MYSQL_VERSION=8.0
 ORACLE_VERSION=23.5.0.0
diff --git a/Containerfile b/Containerfile
index 8c5be34..925cf18 100644
--- a/Containerfile
+++ b/Containerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.12
 
 ARG PYTHON_IMPLEMENTATION=python
-ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.12
+ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.13
 FROM ${PYTHON_IMPLEMENTATION}:${PYTHON_VERSION}-slim-bookworm
 
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.authors="Django Software Foundation"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index af06510..899cd4b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ environment variables:
 | ----------------------- | ------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
 | `DJANGO_PATH`           | `../django`   | Path to the Django repostory on your local machine   |
 | `PYTHON_IMPLEMENTATION` | `python`      | Implementation of Python to use — `python` or `pypy` |
-| `PYTHON_VERSION`        | `3.12`        | Version of Python container image to use             |
+| `PYTHON_VERSION`        | `3.13`        | Version of Python container image to use             |
 
 The versions of various backend services can be switched by setting these environment variables:
 
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ The `PYTHON_VERSION` environment variable controls which version of Python you
 are running the tests against, e.g.
 
 ```console
-$ PYTHON_VERSION=3.12 docker compose run --rm sqlite
+$ PYTHON_VERSION=3.13 docker compose run --rm sqlite
 ```
 
 In addition, it's possible to select a different implementation of Python, i.e.