diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e0eb5ab4..c26ccbd0 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -57,4 +57,6 @@ AC_CHECK_PROG([FOUND_GSHUF], [gshuf], [yes])
 AS_IF([test "x$FOUND_SHUF" = xyes],  [AC_DEFINE([HAVE_SHUF], [1], [shuf available])])
 AS_IF([test "x$FOUND_GSHUF" = xyes],  [AC_DEFINE([HAVE_GSHUF], [1], [gshuf available])])
 
+AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([LIBPOSTAL_DATA_DIR], ["$datadir/libpostal"], [Data directory for libpostsal])
+
 AC_OUTPUT
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index ee9b9fac..d39befb9 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ CFLAGS_O2 = $(CFLAGS_BASE) -O2
 CFLAGS_O3 = $(CFLAGS_BASE) -O3
 DEFAULT_INCLUDES=-I..
 
-CFLAGS = $(CFLAGS_BASE) -DLIBPOSTAL_DATA_DIR='"$(LIBPOSTAL_DATA_DIR)"'
+CFLAGS = $(CFLAGS_BASE)
 
 lib_LTLIBRARIES = libpostal.la
 libpostal_la_SOURCES = libpostal.c address_dictionary.c transliterate.c tokens.c trie.c trie_search.c string_utils.c file_utils.c numex.c utf8proc/utf8proc.c cmp/cmp.c geodb.c geo_disambiguation.c normalize.c bloom.c features.c geonames.c geohash/geohash.c unicode_scripts.c msgpack_utils.c
@@ -40,8 +40,6 @@ build_trans_table_CFLAGS = $(CFLAGS_O3)
 
 pkginclude_HEADERS = libpostal.h
 
-LIBPOSTAL_DATA_DIR = $(datadir)/libpostal
-
 all-local:
 	./libpostal_data download base $(LIBPOSTAL_DATA_DIR)