diff --git a/seaborn/matrix.py b/seaborn/matrix.py
index a2ac8eef1c..c47774c581 100644
--- a/seaborn/matrix.py
+++ b/seaborn/matrix.py
@@ -334,6 +334,7 @@ def plot(self, ax, cax, kws):
         ax.set(xticks=xticks, yticks=yticks)
         xtl = ax.set_xticklabels(xticklabels)
         ytl = ax.set_yticklabels(yticklabels, rotation="vertical")
+        plt.setp(ytl, va="center")  # GH2484
 
         # Possibly rotate them if they overlap
         _draw_figure(ax.figure)