diff --git a/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.3 b/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.3
--- a/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.3
+++ b/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.3
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 .\"
 .\" $FreeBSD$
 .\"
-.Dd November 25, 2020
+.Dd July 11, 2023
 .Dt GETLOCALBASE 3
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -53,10 +53,10 @@
 .Va user.localbase
 sysctl is checked.
 If that also does not exist then the value of the
-.Dv _PATH_LOCALBASE
+.Dv LOCALBASE_PATH
 compile-time variable is used.
-If that is undefined then the default of
-.Pa /usr/local
+If that is undefined then the system default,
+.Pa _PATH_LOCALBASE
 is used.
 .Pp
 The contents of the string returned by the
diff --git a/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.c b/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.c
--- a/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.c
+++ b/lib/libutil/getlocalbase.c
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@
 #include <libutil.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
-#ifndef _PATH_LOCALBASE
-#define _PATH_LOCALBASE "/usr/local"
+#ifndef LOCALBASE_PATH
+#define LOCALBASE_PATH _PATH_LOCALBASE
 #endif
 
 #ifndef LOCALBASE_CTL_LEN
@@ -73,17 +73,17 @@
 #if LOCALBASE_CTL_LEN > 0
 	if (sysctl(localbase_oid, 2, localpath, &localpathlen, NULL, 0) != 0) {
 		if (errno != ENOMEM)
-			localbase = _PATH_LOCALBASE;
+			localbase = LOCALBASE_PATH;
 		else
 			localbase = ILLEGAL_PREFIX;
 	} else {
 		if (localpath[0] != '\0')
 			localbase = localpath;
 		else
-			localbase = _PATH_LOCALBASE;
+			localbase = LOCALBASE_PATH;
 	}
 #else
-	localbase = _PATH_LOCALBASE;
+	localbase = LOCALBASE_PATH;
 #endif
 
 	return (localbase);