diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 7c7cf0c2fc619..3a104bbcc2a4a 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@ include-package-data = true
 
 [tool.setuptools.packages.find]
 include = ["pandas", "pandas.*"]
+exclude = ["pandas.tests", "pandas.tests.*"]
 namespaces = false
 
 [tool.setuptools.exclude-package-data]