diff --git a/man/systemd-system.conf.xml b/man/systemd-system.conf.xml
index 075666ac6b..0811e1909e 100644
--- a/man/systemd-system.conf.xml
+++ b/man/systemd-system.conf.xml
@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@
     <filename>/etc/systemd/system.conf.d/*.conf</filename>,
     <filename>/run/systemd/system.conf.d/*.conf</filename>,
     <filename>/usr/lib/systemd/system.conf.d/*.conf</filename></para>
-    <para><filename>/etc/systemd/user.conf</filename>,
+
+    <para><filename>~/.config/systemd/user.conf</filename>,
+    <filename>/etc/systemd/user.conf</filename>,
     <filename>/etc/systemd/user.conf.d/*.conf</filename>,
     <filename>/run/systemd/user.conf.d/*.conf</filename>,
     <filename>/usr/lib/systemd/user.conf.d/*.conf</filename></para>
@@ -40,16 +42,16 @@
   <refsect1>
     <title>Description</title>
 
-    <para>When run as a system instance, systemd interprets the
-    configuration file <filename>system.conf</filename> and the files
-    in <filename>system.conf.d</filename> directories; when run as a
-    user instance, systemd interprets the configuration file
-    <filename>user.conf</filename> and the files in
-    <filename>user.conf.d</filename> directories. These configuration
-    files contain a few settings controlling basic manager
-    operations. See
-    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.syntax</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
-    for a general description of the syntax.</para>
+    <para>When run as a system instance, <command>systemd</command> interprets the configuration file
+    <filename>system.conf</filename> and the files in <filename>system.conf.d</filename> directories; when
+    run as a user instance, it interprets the configuration file <filename>user.conf</filename> (either in
+    the home directory of the user, or if not found, under <filename>/etc/systemd/</filename>) and the files
+    in <filename>user.conf.d</filename> directories. These configuration files contain a few settings
+    controlling basic manager operations.</para>
+
+    <para>See
+    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.syntax</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> for a
+    general description of the syntax.</para>
   </refsect1>
 
   <xi:include href="standard-conf.xml" xpointer="main-conf" />
diff --git a/src/core/main.c b/src/core/main.c
index f29449d691..2237925209 100644
--- a/src/core/main.c
+++ b/src/core/main.c
@@ -163,6 +163,36 @@ static char **saved_env = NULL;
 static int parse_configuration(const struct rlimit *saved_rlimit_nofile,
                                const struct rlimit *saved_rlimit_memlock);
 
+static int manager_find_user_config_paths(char ***ret_files, char ***ret_dirs) {
+        _cleanup_free_ char *base = NULL;
+        _cleanup_strv_free_ char **files = NULL, **dirs = NULL;
+        int r;
+
+        r = xdg_user_config_dir(&base, "/systemd");
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
+        r = strv_extendf(&files, "%s/user.conf", base);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
+        r = strv_extend(&files, PKGSYSCONFDIR "/user.conf");
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
+        r = strv_consume(&dirs, TAKE_PTR(base));
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
+        r = strv_extend_strv(&dirs, CONF_PATHS_STRV("systemd"), false);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
+        *ret_files = TAKE_PTR(files);
+        *ret_dirs = TAKE_PTR(dirs);
+        return 0;
+}
+
 _noreturn_ static void freeze_or_exit_or_reboot(void) {
 
         /* If we are running in a container, let's prefer exiting, after all we can propagate an exit code to
@@ -668,26 +698,34 @@ static int parse_config_file(void) {
                 {}
         };
 
-        const char *fn, *conf_dirs_nulstr;
+        _cleanup_strv_free_ char **_free_files = NULL, **_free_dirs = NULL;
 
-        fn = arg_system ?
-                PKGSYSCONFDIR "/system.conf" :
-                PKGSYSCONFDIR "/user.conf";
+        const char *const *files, *const *dirs, *suffix;
+        int r;
 
-        conf_dirs_nulstr = arg_system ?
-                CONF_PATHS_NULSTR("systemd/system.conf.d") :
-                CONF_PATHS_NULSTR("systemd/user.conf.d");
+        if (arg_system) {
+                files = STRV_MAKE_CONST(PKGSYSCONFDIR "/system.conf");
+                dirs = (const char* const*) CONF_PATHS_STRV("systemd");
+                suffix = "system.conf.d";
+        } else {
+                r = manager_find_user_config_paths(&_free_files, &_free_dirs);
+                if (r < 0)
+                        return log_error_errno(r, "Failed to determine config file paths: %m");
+                files = (const char* const*) _free_files;
+                dirs = (const char* const*) _free_dirs;
+                suffix = "user.conf.d";
+        }
 
-        (void) config_parse_many_nulstr(
-                        fn, conf_dirs_nulstr,
+        (void) config_parse_many(
+                        files, dirs, suffix,
                         "Manager\0",
                         config_item_table_lookup, items,
                         CONFIG_PARSE_WARN,
                         NULL,
                         NULL);
 
-        /* Traditionally "0" was used to turn off the default unit timeouts. Fix this up so that we used USEC_INFINITY
-         * like everywhere else. */
+        /* Traditionally "0" was used to turn off the default unit timeouts. Fix this up so that we use
+         * USEC_INFINITY like everywhere else. */
         if (arg_default_timeout_start_usec <= 0)
                 arg_default_timeout_start_usec = USEC_INFINITY;
         if (arg_default_timeout_stop_usec <= 0)