diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml
index c1a0352b5f5c0..96210d878fa43 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ jobs:
           . ~/virtualenvs/pandas-dev/bin/activate
           python -m pip install --no-cache-dir -U pip wheel setuptools meson[ninja]==1.2.1 meson-python==0.13.1
           python -m pip install numpy --config-settings=setup-args="-Dallow-noblas=true"
-          python -m pip install --no-cache-dir versioneer[toml] cython python-dateutil pytz pytest>=7.3.2 pytest-xdist>=2.2.0 pytest-asyncio>=0.17 hypothesis>=6.46.1
+          python -m pip install --no-cache-dir versioneer[toml] "cython<3.0.3" python-dateutil pytz pytest>=7.3.2 pytest-xdist>=2.2.0 pytest-asyncio>=0.17 hypothesis>=6.46.1
           python -m pip install --no-cache-dir --no-build-isolation -e .
           python -m pip list --no-cache-dir
           export PANDAS_CI=1
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ jobs:
           /opt/python/cp311-cp311/bin/python -m venv ~/virtualenvs/pandas-dev
           . ~/virtualenvs/pandas-dev/bin/activate
           python -m pip install --no-cache-dir -U pip wheel setuptools meson-python==0.13.1 meson[ninja]==1.2.1
-          python -m pip install --no-cache-dir versioneer[toml] cython numpy python-dateutil pytz pytest>=7.3.2 pytest-xdist>=2.2.0 pytest-asyncio>=0.17 hypothesis>=6.46.1
+          python -m pip install --no-cache-dir versioneer[toml] "cython<3.0.3" numpy python-dateutil pytz pytest>=7.3.2 pytest-xdist>=2.2.0 pytest-asyncio>=0.17 hypothesis>=6.46.1
           python -m pip install --no-cache-dir --no-build-isolation -e .
           python -m pip list --no-cache-dir
 
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ jobs:
           python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel meson[ninja]==1.2.1 meson-python==0.13.1
           python -m pip install --pre --extra-index-url https://pypi.anaconda.org/scientific-python-nightly-wheels/simple numpy
           python -m pip install versioneer[toml]
-          python -m pip install python-dateutil pytz tzdata cython hypothesis>=6.46.1 pytest>=7.3.2 pytest-xdist>=2.2.0 pytest-cov pytest-asyncio>=0.17
+          python -m pip install python-dateutil pytz tzdata "cython<3.0.3" hypothesis>=6.46.1 pytest>=7.3.2 pytest-xdist>=2.2.0 pytest-cov pytest-asyncio>=0.17
           python -m pip install -ve . --no-build-isolation --no-index
           python -m pip list
 
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-310.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-310.yaml
index 5db145e31ebc5..fe8115fa8458b 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-310.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-310.yaml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer[toml]
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython>=0.29.33, <3.0.3
   - meson[ninja]=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-311-downstream_compat.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-311-downstream_compat.yaml
index 2d50056098a0f..36d6f6d223668 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-311-downstream_compat.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-311-downstream_compat.yaml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer[toml]
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython>=0.29.33, <3.0.3
   - meson[ninja]=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-311-numpydev.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-311-numpydev.yaml
index 7fd3a65ec91f8..9795a1fb39c6f 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-311-numpydev.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-311-numpydev.yaml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ dependencies:
   - versioneer[toml]
   - meson[ninja]=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython>=0.29.33, <3.0.3
 
   # test dependencies
   - pytest>=7.3.2
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-311-pyarrownightly.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-311-pyarrownightly.yaml
index 893341350f4ef..c259286a5359c 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-311-pyarrownightly.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-311-pyarrownightly.yaml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ dependencies:
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer[toml]
   - meson[ninja]=1.2.1
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython>=0.29.33, <3.0.3
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
   # test dependencies
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-311.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-311.yaml
index d56fb9ac9fe90..d7ef86ac2aa6b 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-311.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-311.yaml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer[toml]
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython>=0.29.33, <3.0.3
   - meson[ninja]=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-39-minimum_versions.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-39-minimum_versions.yaml
index 2a7312cefe619..91052f8805952 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-39-minimum_versions.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-39-minimum_versions.yaml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer[toml]
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython>=0.29.33, <3.0.3
   - meson[ninja]=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-39.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-39.yaml
index 1843e6bd8005f..c4d7418b0a5b5 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-39.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-39.yaml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer[toml]
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython>=0.29.33, <3.0.3
   - meson[ninja]=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-pypy-39.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-pypy-39.yaml
index 4923c94ab08f3..db0723cd3b8fa 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-pypy-39.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-pypy-39.yaml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer[toml]
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython>=0.29.33, <3.0.3
   - meson[ninja]=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
diff --git a/ci/deps/circle-310-arm64.yaml b/ci/deps/circle-310-arm64.yaml
index c893beced8fb4..2c5aebb794c46 100644
--- a/ci/deps/circle-310-arm64.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/circle-310-arm64.yaml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer[toml]
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython>=0.29.33, <3.0.3
   - meson[ninja]=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1