diff --git a/django/db/backends/postgresql_psycopg2/base.py b/django/db/backends/postgresql_psycopg2/base.py
index 4d6a1e2f5d..e1a5d830e2 100644
--- a/django/db/backends/postgresql_psycopg2/base.py
+++ b/django/db/backends/postgresql_psycopg2/base.py
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ class DatabaseWrapper(BaseDatabaseWrapper):
                 conn_params['port'] = settings_dict['DATABASE_PORT']
             self.connection = Database.connect(**conn_params)
             self.connection.set_client_encoding('UTF8')
+            self.connection.set_isolation_level(self.isolation_level)
             connection_created.send(sender=self.__class__)
         cursor = self.connection.cursor()
         cursor.tzinfo_factory = None