diff --git a/bin/find-spark-home b/bin/find-spark-home
index 617dbaa4fff86..462b538b00a04 100755
--- a/bin/find-spark-home
+++ b/bin/find-spark-home
@@ -33,9 +33,9 @@ elif [ ! -f "$FIND_SPARK_HOME_PYTHON_SCRIPT" ]; then
   export SPARK_HOME="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")"/..; pwd)"
 else
   # We are pip installed, use the Python script to resolve a reasonable SPARK_HOME
-  # Default to standard python interpreter unless told otherwise
+  # Default to standard python3 interpreter unless told otherwise
   if [[ -z "$PYSPARK_DRIVER_PYTHON" ]]; then
-     PYSPARK_DRIVER_PYTHON="${PYSPARK_PYTHON:-"python"}"
+     PYSPARK_DRIVER_PYTHON="${PYSPARK_PYTHON:-"python3"}"
   fi
   export SPARK_HOME=$($PYSPARK_DRIVER_PYTHON "$FIND_SPARK_HOME_PYTHON_SCRIPT")
 fi
diff --git a/bin/find-spark-home.cmd b/bin/find-spark-home.cmd
index 6025f67c38de4..f795d146d49c7 100644
--- a/bin/find-spark-home.cmd
+++ b/bin/find-spark-home.cmd
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ rem
 rem Path to Python script finding SPARK_HOME
 set FIND_SPARK_HOME_PYTHON_SCRIPT=%~dp0find_spark_home.py
 
-rem Default to standard python interpreter unless told otherwise
-set PYTHON_RUNNER=python
+rem Default to standard python3 interpreter unless told otherwise
+set PYTHON_RUNNER=python3
 rem If PYSPARK_DRIVER_PYTHON is set, it overwrites the python version
 if not "x%PYSPARK_DRIVER_PYTHON%"=="x" (
   set PYTHON_RUNNER=%PYSPARK_DRIVER_PYTHON%
diff --git a/bin/pyspark b/bin/pyspark
index ad4132fb59eb0..463a2dcfc7e6c 100755
--- a/bin/pyspark
+++ b/bin/pyspark
@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@ if [[ -n "$IPYTHON" || -n "$IPYTHON_OPTS" ]]; then
   exit 1
 fi
 
-# Default to standard python interpreter unless told otherwise
+# Default to standard python3 interpreter unless told otherwise
 if [[ -z "$PYSPARK_PYTHON" ]]; then
-  PYSPARK_PYTHON=python
+  PYSPARK_PYTHON=python3
 fi
 if [[ -z "$PYSPARK_DRIVER_PYTHON" ]]; then
   PYSPARK_DRIVER_PYTHON=$PYSPARK_PYTHON