diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
index 6ecfa9eb4eef..a9144190f0bd 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
@@ -206,7 +206,8 @@ def set_xlabel(self, xlabel, fontdict=None, labelpad=None, **kwargs):
             The label text.
 
         labelpad : scalar, optional, default: None
-            Spacing in points between the label and the x-axis.
+            Spacing in points from the axes bounding box including ticks
+            and tick labels.
 
         Other Parameters
         ----------------
@@ -238,7 +239,8 @@ def set_ylabel(self, ylabel, fontdict=None, labelpad=None, **kwargs):
             The label text.
 
         labelpad : scalar, optional, default: None
-            Spacing in points between the label and the y-axis.
+            Spacing in points from the axes bounding box including ticks
+            and tick labels.
 
         Other Parameters
         ----------------