diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ec835643e..f11b54132 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@ for writing and decoding of the the double data type.
 Added `spdk_thread_get_app_thread` which returns the first thread that was created using
 `spdk_thread_create`.
 
+Added `spdk_thread_is_running`.  This returns `true` for a running thread, or `false` if
+its exit process has started using `spdk_thread_exit`.
+
 ## v22.09
 
 ### accel
diff --git a/include/spdk/thread.h b/include/spdk/thread.h
index 168f46044..03b38e426 100644
--- a/include/spdk/thread.h
+++ b/include/spdk/thread.h
@@ -285,12 +285,28 @@ int spdk_thread_exit(struct spdk_thread *thread);
 /**
  * Returns whether the thread is marked as exited.
  *
+ * A thread is exited only after it has spdk_thread_exit() called on it, and
+ * it has been polled until any outstanding operations targeting this
+ * thread have completed.  This may include poller unregistrations, io channel
+ * unregistrations, or outstanding spdk_thread_send_msg calls.
+ *
  * \param thread The thread to query.
  *
  * \return true if marked as exited, false otherwise.
  */
 bool spdk_thread_is_exited(struct spdk_thread *thread);
 
+/**
+ * Returns whether the thread is still running.
+ *
+ * A thread is considered running until it has * spdk_thread_exit() called on it.
+ *
+ * \param thread The thread to query.
+ *
+ * \return true if still running, false otherwise.
+ */
+bool spdk_thread_is_running(struct spdk_thread *thread);
+
 /**
  * Destroy a thread, releasing all of its resources. May only be called
  * on a thread previously marked as exited.
diff --git a/lib/thread/spdk_thread.map b/lib/thread/spdk_thread.map
index 0e48a2c3c..5aeab5a75 100644
--- a/lib/thread/spdk_thread.map
+++ b/lib/thread/spdk_thread.map
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 	spdk_thread_get_app_thread;
 	spdk_set_thread;
 	spdk_thread_exit;
+	spdk_thread_is_running;
 	spdk_thread_is_exited;
 	spdk_thread_destroy;
 	spdk_thread_get_ctx;
diff --git a/lib/thread/thread.c b/lib/thread/thread.c
index 510d1079c..1342038f0 100644
--- a/lib/thread/thread.c
+++ b/lib/thread/thread.c
@@ -594,6 +594,12 @@ spdk_thread_exit(struct spdk_thread *thread)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+bool
+spdk_thread_is_running(struct spdk_thread *thread)
+{
+	return thread->state == SPDK_THREAD_STATE_RUNNING;
+}
+
 bool
 spdk_thread_is_exited(struct spdk_thread *thread)
 {