diff --git a/.pylintrc b/.pylintrc
index f7feea52..4f267721 100644
--- a/.pylintrc
+++ b/.pylintrc
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [MASTER]
-extension-pkg-whitelist=rasterio.crs
+extension-pkg-whitelist=rasterio.crs,pyproj.database
 
 [MESSAGES CONTROL]
 disable=logging-fstring-interpolation,
diff --git a/rioxarray/rioxarray.py b/rioxarray/rioxarray.py
index 0cdb5211..e8b23ede 100644
--- a/rioxarray/rioxarray.py
+++ b/rioxarray/rioxarray.py
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 import rasterio.windows
 import xarray
 from affine import Affine
+from pyproj.aoi import AreaOfInterest
+from pyproj.database import query_utm_crs_info
 from rasterio.control import GroundControlPoint
 from rasterio.crs import CRS
 
@@ -531,13 +533,6 @@ def estimate_utm_crs(self, datum_name: str = "WGS 84") -> rasterio.crs.CRS:
         -------
         rasterio.crs.CRS
         """
-        # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
-        try:
-            from pyproj.aoi import AreaOfInterest
-            from pyproj.database import query_utm_crs_info
-        except ImportError:
-            raise RuntimeError("pyproj 3+ required for estimate_utm_crs.") from None
-
         if self.crs is None:
             raise RuntimeError("crs must be set to estimate UTM CRS.")
 
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 9e4541f5..9fcc82e8 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ install_requires =
     packaging
     rasterio>=1.3
     xarray>=0.17
-    pyproj>=2.2
+    pyproj>=3.3
     numpy>=1.21
 
 [options.package_data]
diff --git a/test/integration/test_integration_rioxarray.py b/test/integration/test_integration_rioxarray.py
index c869cf00..52b1bcf2 100644
--- a/test/integration/test_integration_rioxarray.py
+++ b/test/integration/test_integration_rioxarray.py
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
 from rioxarray.rioxarray import _make_coords
 from test.conftest import (
     GDAL_GE_361,
-    PYPROJ_LT_3,
     TEST_COMPARE_DATA_DIR,
     TEST_INPUT_DATA_DIR,
     _assert_xarrays_equal,
@@ -2852,18 +2851,13 @@ def test_estimate_utm_crs():
     with rioxarray.open_rasterio(
         os.path.join(TEST_INPUT_DATA_DIR, "cog.tif"),
     ) as xds:
-        if PYPROJ_LT_3:
-            with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match=r"pyproj 3\+ required"):
-                xds.rio.estimate_utm_crs()
-        else:
-            assert xds.rio.estimate_utm_crs().to_epsg() in (32618, 32655)
-            assert xds.rio.reproject(
-                "EPSG:4326"
-            ).rio.estimate_utm_crs() == CRS.from_epsg(32618)
-            assert xds.rio.estimate_utm_crs("WGS 72") in (32218, 32255)
+        assert xds.rio.estimate_utm_crs().to_epsg() in (32618, 32655)
+        assert xds.rio.reproject("EPSG:4326").rio.estimate_utm_crs() == CRS.from_epsg(
+            32618
+        )
+        assert xds.rio.estimate_utm_crs("WGS 72") in (32218, 32255)
 
 
-@pytest.mark.skipif(PYPROJ_LT_3, reason="pyproj 3+ required")
 def test_estimate_utm_crs__missing_crs():
     with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match=r"crs must be set to estimate UTM CRS"):
         xarray.Dataset().rio.estimate_utm_crs("NAD83")
@@ -2879,12 +2873,8 @@ def test_estimate_utm_crs__out_of_bounds():
         },
     )
     xds.rio.write_crs("EPSG:4326", inplace=True)
-    if PYPROJ_LT_3:
-        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match=r"pyproj 3\+ required"):
-            xds.rio.estimate_utm_crs()
-    else:
-        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match=r"Unable to determine UTM CRS"):
-            xds.rio.estimate_utm_crs()
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match=r"Unable to determine UTM CRS"):
+        xds.rio.estimate_utm_crs()
 
 
 def test_interpolate_na_missing_nodata():