diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index a0703082..48c7c362 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,9 +1,16 @@
 cmake_minimum_required( VERSION 3.5 FATAL_ERROR )
-project (urdfdom CXX C)
 
-set (URDF_MAJOR_VERSION 5)
-set (URDF_MINOR_VERSION 0)
-set (URDF_PATCH_VERSION 2)
+# get package version from package.xml
+list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake")
+include(GetPackageXmlVersion)
+get_package_xml_version(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/package.xml PACKAGE_XML)
+
+project (urdfdom VERSION ${PACKAGE_XML_VERSION}
+                 LANGUAGES CXX C)
+
+set (URDF_MAJOR_VERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR})
+set (URDF_MINOR_VERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR})
+set (URDF_PATCH_VERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH})
 
 set (URDF_VERSION ${URDF_MAJOR_VERSION}.${URDF_MINOR_VERSION}.${URDF_PATCH_VERSION})
 set (URDF_MAJOR_MINOR_VERSION ${URDF_MAJOR_VERSION}.${URDF_MINOR_VERSION})
@@ -43,8 +50,6 @@ if(MSVC OR MSVC90 OR MSVC10)
   set(MSVC ON)
 endif (MSVC OR MSVC90 OR MSVC10)
 
-list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake")
-
 find_package(TinyXML2 REQUIRED)
 
 find_package(urdfdom_headers REQUIRED)
diff --git a/cmake/GetPackageXmlVersion.cmake b/cmake/GetPackageXmlVersion.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7b32a228
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/GetPackageXmlVersion.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2024 Open Source Robotics Foundation
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# Copied from https://github.com/gazebosim/gz-cmake/blob/gz-cmake5_5.0.0/cmake/GzGetPackageXmlVersion.cmake
+# and renamed.
+
+#################################################
+# get_package_xml_version(<package_xml_path> <version_var_prefix>)
+#
+# Given the path to a package.xml file in <package_xml_path>,
+# extract the version number and return the following variables
+# prefixed by <version_var_prefix>:
+# - <version_var_prefix>_VERSION: the full version number (Major.Minor.Patch)
+# - <version_var_prefix>_VERSION_MAJOR: the major version number
+# - <version_var_prefix>_VERSION_MINOR: the minor version number
+# - <version_var_prefix>_VERSION_PATCH: the patch version number
+function(get_package_xml_version package_xml_path version_var_prefix)
+
+  if(NOT Python3_Interpreter_FOUND)
+    find_package(Python3 COMPONENTS Interpreter REQUIRED)
+  endif()
+  execute_process(
+    COMMAND "${Python3_EXECUTABLE}"
+            "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/print_package_xml_version.py"
+            "${package_xml_path}"
+    OUTPUT_VARIABLE PACKAGE_XML_version
+    ERROR_VARIABLE  PACKAGE_XML_error
+    RESULT_VARIABLE PACKAGE_XML_result)
+  if(NOT ${PACKAGE_XML_result} EQUAL 0)
+    message("")
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Failed to parse version number from package.xml: ${PACKAGE_XML_error}")
+  endif()
+  # split version number into list of three numbers
+  string(REPLACE "." ";" PACKAGE_XML_version_list ${PACKAGE_XML_version})
+
+  # Create variables for major, minor, and patch version numbers
+  list(GET PACKAGE_XML_version_list 0 PACKAGE_XML_version_major)
+  list(GET PACKAGE_XML_version_list 1 PACKAGE_XML_version_minor)
+  list(GET PACKAGE_XML_version_list 2 PACKAGE_XML_version_patch)
+
+  # Return variables for the full version number as well as major, minor, and patch version numbers
+  set(${version_var_prefix}_VERSION ${PACKAGE_XML_version} PARENT_SCOPE)
+  set(${version_var_prefix}_VERSION_MAJOR ${PACKAGE_XML_version_major} PARENT_SCOPE)
+  set(${version_var_prefix}_VERSION_MINOR ${PACKAGE_XML_version_minor} PARENT_SCOPE)
+  set(${version_var_prefix}_VERSION_PATCH ${PACKAGE_XML_version_patch} PARENT_SCOPE)
+
+endfunction()
diff --git a/print_package_xml_version.py b/print_package_xml_version.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..c7eabf60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/print_package_xml_version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+# Copyright (C) 2024 Open Source Robotics Foundation
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License")
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import re
+import sys
+from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
+
+if len(sys.argv) != 2:
+    raise RuntimeError('Expected one argument with the path to a package.xml file')
+
+file_name = sys.argv[1]
+
+doc = ET.parse(file_name)
+root = doc.getroot()
+if root.tag != 'package':
+    raise RuntimeError('Invalid package.xml file, root tag <%s> should be <package>' % root.tag)
+
+if root.find('version') is None:
+    raise RuntimeError('Invalid package.xml file, no <version> tag found.')
+
+version_str = root.find('version').text
+
+# validate version string using regex from catkin_pkg
+# https://github.com/ros-infrastructure/catkin_pkg/blob/1.0.0/src/catkin_pkg/package_version.py#L55-L58
+match = re.match(r'^(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)$', version_str)
+if match is None:
+    raise ValueError('Invalid version string, must be int.int.int: "%s"' % version_str)
+
+print(version_str, end='')