diff --git a/build/pkgs/mathjax/distros/gentoo.txt b/build/pkgs/mathjax/distros/gentoo.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e0d633a9b98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/pkgs/mathjax/distros/gentoo.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+>=dev-libs/mathjax-3
diff --git a/build/pkgs/mathjax/spkg-configure.m4 b/build/pkgs/mathjax/spkg-configure.m4
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..70fb46a2067
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/pkgs/mathjax/spkg-configure.m4
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+SAGE_SPKG_CONFIGURE([mathjax], [
+  # Arch:   /usr/share/mathjax
+  # Gentoo: /usr/share/mathjax
+  # Void:   /usr/share/mathjax
+  AC_MSG_CHECKING([for MathJax-3.x])
+  m4_foreach([mathjax_dir], [/usr/share/mathjax], [
+    # tex-chtml.hs is used in src/sage_docbuild/conf.py
+    # and was not present in MathJax-2.x
+    AS_IF([test -f "mathjax_dir/tex-chtml.js"], [
+      SAGE_MATHJAX_DIR="mathjax_dir"
+      AC_MSG_RESULT([mathjax_dir])
+    ])
+  ])
+  AS_IF([test -z "${SAGE_MATHJAX_DIR}"], [
+    AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
+    sage_spkg_install_mathjax=yes
+  ])
+],[],[],[
+  # post-check
+  AS_IF([test x$sage_spkg_install_mathjax = xyes], [
+    # Our spkg-src script adds an extra "mathjax"
+    SAGE_MATHJAX_DIR='${prefix}'/share/mathjax/mathjax
+  ])
+
+  AC_SUBST(SAGE_MATHJAX_DIR, "${SAGE_MATHJAX_DIR}")
+])
diff --git a/pkgs/sage-conf/_sage_conf/_conf.py.in b/pkgs/sage-conf/_sage_conf/_conf.py.in
index f2e197b45ed..87b27ca05cb 100644
--- a/pkgs/sage-conf/_sage_conf/_conf.py.in
+++ b/pkgs/sage-conf/_sage_conf/_conf.py.in
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ SAGE_ARCHFLAGS = "@SAGE_ARCHFLAGS@"
 SAGE_PKG_CONFIG_PATH = "@SAGE_PKG_CONFIG_PATH@".replace('$SAGE_LOCAL', SAGE_LOCAL)
 
 # Used in sage.repl.ipython_kernel.install
-MATHJAX_DIR = SAGE_LOCAL + "/share/mathjax"
+MATHJAX_DIR = "@SAGE_MATHJAX_DIR@".replace('${prefix}', SAGE_LOCAL)
 THREEJS_DIR = SAGE_LOCAL + "/share/threejs-sage"
 
 # OpenMP flags, if available.
diff --git a/src/sage_docbuild/conf.py b/src/sage_docbuild/conf.py
index b493b3b2897..d488a6a13a4 100644
--- a/src/sage_docbuild/conf.py
+++ b/src/sage_docbuild/conf.py
@@ -374,8 +374,7 @@ def set_intersphinx_mappings(app, config):
 if os.environ.get('SAGE_USE_CDNS', 'no') == 'yes':
     mathjax_path = "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/mathjax@3/es5/tex-chtml.js"
 else:
-    mathjax_path = 'mathjax/tex-chtml.js'
-    html_common_static_path += [MATHJAX_DIR]
+    mathjax_path = os.path.join(MATHJAX_DIR, 'tex-chtml.js')
 
 # A list of glob-style patterns that should be excluded when looking for source
 # files. They are matched against the source file names relative to the