diff --git a/google/cloud/bigquery/__init__.py b/google/cloud/bigquery/__init__.py
index 89c5a3624..e83e70084 100644
--- a/google/cloud/bigquery/__init__.py
+++ b/google/cloud/bigquery/__init__.py
@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@
 """
 
 
-from pkg_resources import get_distribution
+from google.cloud.bigquery import version as bigquery_version
 
-__version__ = get_distribution("google-cloud-bigquery").version
+__version__ = bigquery_version.__version__
 
 from google.cloud.bigquery.client import Client
 from google.cloud.bigquery.dataset import AccessEntry
diff --git a/google/cloud/bigquery/version.py b/google/cloud/bigquery/version.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8b5d3328c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/google/cloud/bigquery/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# Copyright 2020 Google LLC
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+__version__ = "2.1.0"
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 14b38b63e..be7296081 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 
 name = "google-cloud-bigquery"
 description = "Google BigQuery API client library"
-version = "2.1.0"
+
 # Should be one of:
 # 'Development Status :: 3 - Alpha'
 # 'Development Status :: 4 - Beta'
@@ -83,6 +83,11 @@
 with io.open(readme_filename, encoding="utf-8") as readme_file:
     readme = readme_file.read()
 
+version = {}
+with open(os.path.join(package_root, "google/cloud/bigquery/version.py")) as fp:
+    exec(fp.read(), version)
+version = version["__version__"]
+
 # Only include packages under the 'google' namespace. Do not include tests,
 # benchmarks, etc.
 packages = [