diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 5c9de0f644..98a278631d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ message(STATUS "Configuring PROJ:")
 #PROJ version information
 ################################################################################
 include(ProjVersion)
-proj_version(MAJOR 9 MINOR 5 PATCH 0)
+proj_version(MAJOR 9 MINOR 6 PATCH 0)
 set(PROJ_SOVERSION 25)
 set(PROJ_BUILD_VERSION "${PROJ_SOVERSION}.${PROJ_VERSION}")
 
diff --git a/docs/source/conf.py b/docs/source/conf.py
index 3bb0aa67b5..67f2e933f3 100644
--- a/docs/source/conf.py
+++ b/docs/source/conf.py
@@ -25,10 +25,10 @@
 author = "PROJ contributors"
 
 # The major project version, used as the replacement for |version|
-version = "9.5"
+version = "9.6"
 
 # The full project version, used as the replacement for |release|
-release = "9.5.0-dev"
+release = "9.6.0-dev"
 
 # PROJ-data version
 data_version = "1.19"
diff --git a/src/proj.h b/src/proj.h
index 7726d1f2ad..a55395ef79 100644
--- a/src/proj.h
+++ b/src/proj.h
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ extern "C" {
 
 /* The version numbers should be updated with every release! **/
 #define PROJ_VERSION_MAJOR 9
-#define PROJ_VERSION_MINOR 5
+#define PROJ_VERSION_MINOR 6
 #define PROJ_VERSION_PATCH 0
 
 /* Note: the following 3 defines have been introduced in PROJ 8.0.1 */
diff --git a/src/release.cpp b/src/release.cpp
index ca48e33eec..16f4f49778 100644
--- a/src/release.cpp
+++ b/src/release.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,6 @@
 
 char const pj_release[] = "Rel. " STR(PROJ_VERSION_MAJOR) "." STR(
     PROJ_VERSION_MINOR) "." STR(PROJ_VERSION_PATCH) ", "
-                                                    "September 15th, 2024";
+                                                    "March 1st, 2025";
 
 const char *pj_get_release() { return pj_release; }