diff --git a/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml b/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml
index 4e02d0973d..f29acfe018 100644
--- a/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml
+++ b/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml
@@ -66,3 +66,9 @@ config:
   # If set to true, `spack install` and friends will NOT clean
   # potentially harmful variables from the build environment. Use wisely.
   dirty: false
+
+
+  # The default number of jobs to use when running `make` in parallel.
+  # If set to 4, for example, `spack install` will run `make -j4`.
+  # If not set, all available cores are used by default.
+  # build_jobs: 4
diff --git a/lib/spack/docs/config_yaml.rst b/lib/spack/docs/config_yaml.rst
index 197bf5c530..28b258c2e5 100644
--- a/lib/spack/docs/config_yaml.rst
+++ b/lib/spack/docs/config_yaml.rst
@@ -99,8 +99,8 @@ See :ref:`modules` for details.
 ``build_stage``
 --------------------
 
-Spack is designed to run out of a user home directories, and on many
-systems the home directory a (slow) network filesystem.  On most systems,
+Spack is designed to run out of a user home directory, and on many
+systems the home directory is a (slow) network filesystem.  On most systems,
 building in a temporary filesystem results in faster builds than building
 in the home directory.  Usually, there is also more space available in
 the temporary location than in the home directory. So, Spack tries to
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ See :ref:`config-file-variables` for more on ``$tempdir`` and ``$spack``.
 
 When Spack builds a package, it creates a temporary directory within the
 ``build_stage``, and it creates a symbolic link to that directory in
-``$spack/var/spack/stage``. This is used totrack the stage.
+``$spack/var/spack/stage``. This is used to track the stage.
 
 After a package is successfully installed, Spack deletes the temporary
 directory it used to build.  Unsuccessful builds are not deleted, but you
@@ -180,7 +180,24 @@ the way packages build. This includes ``LD_LIBRARY_PATH``, ``CPATH``,
 ``LIBRARY_PATH``, ``DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH``, and others.
 
 By default, builds are ``clean``, but on some machines, compilers and
-other tools may need custom ``LD_LIBRARY_PATH`` setings to run.  You can
+other tools may need custom ``LD_LIBRARY_PATH`` settings to run.  You can
 set ``dirty`` to ``true`` to skip the cleaning step and make all builds
 "dirty" by default.  Be aware that this will reduce the reproducibility
 of builds.
+
+--------------
+``build_jobs``
+--------------
+
+Unless overridden in a package or on the command line, Spack builds all
+packages in parallel. For a build system that uses Makefiles, this means
+running ``make -j<build_jobs>``, where ``build_jobs`` is the number of
+threads to use.
+
+The default parallelism is equal to the number of cores on your machine.
+If you work on a shared login node or have a strict ulimit, it may be
+necessary to set the default to a lower value. By setting ``build_jobs``
+to 4, for example, commands like ``spack install`` will run ``make -j4``
+instead of hogging every core.
+
+To build all software in serial, set ``build_jobs`` to 1.
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py b/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
index 345a804dfe..85d881a769 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 # License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 # Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
 ##############################################################################
+import multiprocessing
 import os
 import sys
 import tempfile
@@ -141,6 +142,11 @@
 dirty = _config.get('dirty', False)
 
 
+# The number of jobs to use when building in parallel.
+# By default, use all cores on the machine.
+build_jobs = _config.get('build_jobs', multiprocessing.cpu_count())
+
+
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # When packages call 'from spack import *', this extra stuff is brought in.
 #
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/build_environment.py b/lib/spack/spack/build_environment.py
index 705e845440..4a8487daab 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/build_environment.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/build_environment.py
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ def set_module_variables_for_package(pkg, module):
        This makes things easier for package writers.
     """
     # number of jobs spack will build with.
-    jobs = multiprocessing.cpu_count()
+    jobs = spack.build_jobs
     if not pkg.parallel:
         jobs = 1
     elif pkg.make_jobs:
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/package.py b/lib/spack/spack/package.py
index d2494939d7..108ddeff07 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/package.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/package.py
@@ -485,7 +485,7 @@ class SomePackage(Package):
     parallel = True
 
     """# jobs to use for parallel make. If set, overrides default of ncpus."""
-    make_jobs = None
+    make_jobs = spack.build_jobs
 
     """By default do not run tests within package's install()"""
     run_tests = False
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/schema/config.py b/lib/spack/spack/schema/config.py
index 7a41c0e14a..6c655db915 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/schema/config.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/schema/config.py
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@
                 'verify_ssl': {'type': 'boolean'},
                 'checksum': {'type': 'boolean'},
                 'dirty': {'type': 'boolean'},
+                'build_jobs': {'type': 'integer', 'minimum': 1},
             }
         },
     },