diff --git a/History.markdown b/History.markdown
index 7d48133a..c7aaaed4 100644
--- a/History.markdown
+++ b/History.markdown
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 
 ### Minor Enhancements
 
+* Add support for CSV files in the `_data` directory (#2761)
+
 ### Bug Fixes
 
 ### Development Fixes
diff --git a/features/data.feature b/features/data.feature
index 4f0e32ed..e44be8a5 100644
--- a/features/data.feature
+++ b/features/data.feature
@@ -45,6 +45,20 @@ Feature: Data
     And I should see "Jack" in "_site/index.html"
     And I should see "Leon" in "_site/index.html"
 
+  Scenario: autoload *.csv files in _data directory
+    Given I have a _data directory
+    And I have a "_data/members.csv" file with content:
+      """
+      name,age
+      Jack,28
+      Leon,34
+      """
+    And I have an "index.html" page that contains "{% for member in site.data.members %}{{member.name}}{% endfor %}"
+    When I run jekyll build
+    Then the "_site/index.html" file should exist
+    And I should see "Jack" in "_site/index.html"
+    And I should see "Leon" in "_site/index.html"
+
   Scenario: autoload *.yml files in _data directory with space in file name
     Given I have a _data directory
     And I have a "_data/team members.yml" file with content:
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/site.rb b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
index 5aee3e72..502e3ecb 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/site.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 # encoding: UTF-8
+require 'csv'
 
 module Jekyll
   class Site
@@ -212,7 +213,7 @@ module Jekyll
       return unless File.directory?(dir) && (!safe || !File.symlink?(dir))
 
       entries = Dir.chdir(dir) do
-        Dir['*.{yaml,yml,json}'] + Dir['*'].select { |fn| File.directory?(fn) }
+        Dir['*.{yaml,yml,json,csv}'] + Dir['*'].select { |fn| File.directory?(fn) }
       end
 
       entries.each do |entry|
@@ -223,7 +224,12 @@ module Jekyll
         if File.directory?(path)
           read_data_to(path, data[key] = {})
         else
-          data[key] = SafeYAML.load_file(path)
+          case File.extname(path).downcase
+          when '.csv'
+            data[key] = CSV.read(path, :headers => true).map(&:to_hash)
+          else
+            data[key] = SafeYAML.load_file(path)
+          end
         end
       end
     end