diff --git a/.nvmrc b/.nvmrc
index f6610cade..3d3254308 100644
--- a/.nvmrc
+++ b/.nvmrc
@@ -1 +1 @@
-18.18.1
+20.8.0
diff --git a/src/steps/writing/creation/rootFiles.ts b/src/steps/writing/creation/rootFiles.ts
index 427755f49..eb7a0314c 100644
--- a/src/steps/writing/creation/rootFiles.ts
+++ b/src/steps/writing/creation/rootFiles.ts
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ export async function createRootFiles(options: Options) {
 				},
 			}),
 		}),
-		".nvmrc": `18.18.0\n`,
+		".nvmrc": `20.8.0\n`,
 		".prettierignore": formatIgnoreFile([
 			...(options.excludeAllContributors ? [] : [".all-contributorsrc"]),
 			...(options.excludeTests ? [] : ["coverage/"]),