diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 450f4ee3b..9ac5821c2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ positions are near surface of whatever celestial body their positions are refere
 (either the Earth or Moon, currently).
 
 ### Changed
-- added support for python 3.12
+- added support for python 3.12, dropped support for python 3.8.
+- Updated minimum dependency versions: pyyaml>=5.3
 - Changed `UVData.write_ms` to sort polarizations based on CASA-preferred ordering.
 - Added some functionality to the `utils._convert_to_slices` method to enable quick
 assessment of whether an indexing array can be replaced by a single slice.
@@ -27,7 +28,6 @@ tolerance value to be user-specified.
 Additionally, failing this check results in a warning (was an error).
 
 ### Deprecated
-- Dropped support for python 3.8
 - Having `freq_range` defined on non-wide-band gain style UVCal objects.
 - Having `freq_array` and `channel_width` defined on wide-band UVCal objects.
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cbfe77aee..dbbc635e5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ Optional:
 * lunarsky >=0.2.1 (for working with simulated datasets for lunar telescopes)
 * novas and novas_de405 (for using the NOVAS library for astrometry)
 * python-casacore >= 3.3.1 (for working with CASA measurement sets)
-* pyyaml >= 5.1 (for working with settings files for CST beam files)
+* pyyaml >= 5.3 (for working with settings files for CST beam files)
 
 
 The numpy and astropy versions are important, so make sure these are up to date.
diff --git a/ci/pyuvdata_min_versions_tests.yml b/ci/pyuvdata_min_versions_tests.yml
index d964a1216..f87fa2a26 100644
--- a/ci/pyuvdata_min_versions_tests.yml
+++ b/ci/pyuvdata_min_versions_tests.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ dependencies:
   - numpy==1.20.*
   - pyerfa==2.0
   - python-casacore==3.3.1
-  - pyyaml==5.1.*
+  - pyyaml==5.3.*
   - scipy==1.5.*
   - coverage
   - pytest==6.2.0
diff --git a/ci/pyuvdata_tests.yml b/ci/pyuvdata_tests.yml
index 5cbba7507..ef1b0aef4 100644
--- a/ci/pyuvdata_tests.yml
+++ b/ci/pyuvdata_tests.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ dependencies:
   - numpy>=1.20.*
   - pyerfa>=2.0
   - python-casacore>=3.3.1
-  - pyyaml>=5.1
+  - pyyaml>=5.3
   - scipy>=1.5
   - coverage
   - pytest>=6.2.0
diff --git a/ci/pyuvdata_tests_windows.yml b/ci/pyuvdata_tests_windows.yml
index 94f450774..670328b88 100644
--- a/ci/pyuvdata_tests_windows.yml
+++ b/ci/pyuvdata_tests_windows.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ dependencies:
   - hdf5plugin>=3.1.0
   - numpy>=1.20.*
   - pyerfa>=2.0
-  - pyyaml>=5.1
+  - pyyaml>=5.3
   - scipy>=1.5
   - coverage
   - pytest>=6.2.0
diff --git a/environment.yaml b/environment.yaml
index 139cd4d1b..cded135fa 100644
--- a/environment.yaml
+++ b/environment.yaml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ dependencies:
   - pytest-cov
   - pytest-xdist
   - python-casacore>=3.3.1
-  - pyyaml>=5.1
+  - pyyaml>=5.3
   - scipy>=1.5
   - setuptools_scm<7.0|>=7.0.3
   - sphinx
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 336704cc7..f11ccbd3f 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ def is_platform_windows():
 
 astroquery_reqs = ["astroquery>=0.4.4"]
 casa_reqs = ["python-casacore>=3.3.1"]
-cst_reqs = ["pyyaml>=5.1"]
+cst_reqs = ["pyyaml>=5.3"]
 hdf5_compression_reqs = ["hdf5plugin>=3.1.0"]
 healpix_reqs = ["astropy_healpix>=0.6"]
 lunar_reqs = ["lunarsky>=0.2.1"]