diff --git a/nb b/nb
index 9d343bfca..b507e0393 100755
--- a/nb
+++ b/nb
@@ -438,10 +438,30 @@ _option_value_is_present() {
 
 # $NBRC_PATH
 #
-# Default: `$HOME/.nbrc`
-#
-# The location of the .nbrc configuration file.
-export NBRC_PATH="${NBRC_PATH:-"${HOME}/.${_ME}rc"}"
+# Default: `$HOME/.nbrc`, or `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nb/config` if `XDG_CONFIG_HOME`
+#          is defined and `$HOME/.nbrc` does not already exist
+
+# This is the old way of determining the global nbrc path, to preserve
+# backwards compatibility. I propose deprecating it.
+_deprec_default_nbrc="${HOME}/.${_ME}rc"
+
+# This is the new, XDG-compliant default location
+_xdg_default_nbrc="${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-${HOME}/.config}/${_ME%%.*}/${_ME}rc"
+
+# Choose a default path to use
+if [[ -e "${_deprec_default_nbrc}" ]]; then
+  # If the old default nbrc file exists, use it
+  _nbrc_path="${_deprec_default_nbrc}"
+  # TODO: Potentially output a warning here that this location is deprecated.
+else
+  # Otherwise, use the new, XDG-compliant default path
+  _nbrc_path="${_xdg_default_nbrc}"
+fi
+
+# In either case, defer to a potential external definition of NBRC_PATH
+export NBRC_PATH="${NBRC_PATH:-${_nbrc_path}}"
+# TODO: Create the path to the nbrc file if it does not exist yet. Perhaps do
+#       this in the _init_create_rc_file function.
 
 # Handle symlinked NBRC_PATH.
 if [[ -L "${NBRC_PATH}" ]]