diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2dd924ff19..653e453ef1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -48,7 +48,10 @@ npm i @trussworks/react-uswds
 
 ### USWDS
 
-It is strongly suggested applications use the same version of USWDS that was used to build the version of ReactUSWDS they're using. A version mismatch may result in unexpected markup & CSS combinations.
+It is strongly suggested applications use the same version of USWDS that was used to build the version of ReactUSWDS they're using (see this repo's uswds `devDependency` in [package.json](./package.json)).
+A version mismatch may result in unexpected markup & CSS combinations.
+For flexibility, ReactUSWDS will not trigger warnings if consumers choose to use a higher minor version of `uswds` (hence the careted uswds `peerDependency` in [package.json](./package.json)).
+If encountering unexpected markup issues when choosing _not_ to use the matching `devDependency` version of `uswds`, consumers should check whether aligning the versions resolves their issue(s).
 
 You can import ReactUSWDS components using ES6 syntax:
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 0c4c2a1430..5c33f766f6 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
   },
   "homepage": "https://github.com/trussworks/react-uswds#readme",
   "peerDependencies": {
-    "@uswds/uswds": "3.6.0",
+    "@uswds/uswds": "^3.6.0",
     "react": "^16.x || ^17.x || ^18.x",
     "react-dom": "^16.x || ^17.x || ^18.x"
   },