diff --git a/examples/bdev/bdevperf/bdevperf.c b/examples/bdev/bdevperf/bdevperf.c
index 6963e2fed..dff70408c 100644
--- a/examples/bdev/bdevperf/bdevperf.c
+++ b/examples/bdev/bdevperf/bdevperf.c
@@ -80,6 +80,8 @@ static void rpc_perform_tests_cb(void);
 static uint32_t g_bdev_count = 0;
 static uint32_t g_latency_display_level;
 
+static bool g_one_thread_per_lcore = false;
+
 static const double g_latency_cutoffs[] = {
 	0.01,
 	0.10,
@@ -184,6 +186,7 @@ struct job_config {
 	int				bs;
 	int				iodepth;
 	int				rwmixread;
+	uint32_t			lcore;
 	int64_t				offset;
 	uint64_t			length;
 	enum job_config_rw		rw;
@@ -211,6 +214,15 @@ struct bdevperf_aggregate_stats {
 
 static struct bdevperf_aggregate_stats g_stats = {.min_latency = (double)UINT64_MAX};
 
+struct lcore_thread {
+	struct spdk_thread		*thread;
+	uint32_t			lcore;
+	TAILQ_ENTRY(lcore_thread)	link;
+};
+
+TAILQ_HEAD(, lcore_thread) g_lcore_thread_list
+	= TAILQ_HEAD_INITIALIZER(g_lcore_thread_list);
+
 /*
  * Cumulative Moving Average (CMA): average of all data up to current
  * Exponential Moving Average (EMA): weighted mean of the previous n data and more weight is given to recent
@@ -506,6 +518,7 @@ bdevperf_test_done(void *ctx)
 {
 	struct bdevperf_job *job, *jtmp;
 	struct bdevperf_task *task, *ttmp;
+	struct lcore_thread *lthread, *lttmp;
 	double average_latency = 0.0;
 	uint64_t time_in_usec;
 	int rc;
@@ -589,7 +602,9 @@ clean:
 	TAILQ_FOREACH_SAFE(job, &g_bdevperf.jobs, link, jtmp) {
 		TAILQ_REMOVE(&g_bdevperf.jobs, job, link);
 
-		spdk_thread_send_msg(job->thread, job_thread_exit, NULL);
+		if (!g_one_thread_per_lcore) {
+			spdk_thread_send_msg(job->thread, job_thread_exit, NULL);
+		}
 
 		TAILQ_FOREACH_SAFE(task, &job->task_list, link, ttmp) {
 			TAILQ_REMOVE(&job->task_list, task, link);
@@ -601,6 +616,14 @@ clean:
 		bdevperf_job_free(job);
 	}
 
+	if (g_one_thread_per_lcore) {
+		TAILQ_FOREACH_SAFE(lthread, &g_lcore_thread_list, link, lttmp) {
+			TAILQ_REMOVE(&g_lcore_thread_list, lthread, link);
+			spdk_thread_send_msg(lthread->thread, job_thread_exit, NULL);
+			free(lthread);
+		}
+	}
+
 	rc = g_run_rc;
 	if (g_request && !g_shutdown) {
 		rpc_perform_tests_cb();
@@ -1852,6 +1875,20 @@ config_filename_next(const char *filename, char *out)
 	return filename + i;
 }
 
+static struct spdk_thread *
+get_lcore_thread(uint32_t lcore)
+{
+	struct lcore_thread *lthread;
+
+	TAILQ_FOREACH(lthread, &g_lcore_thread_list, link) {
+		if (lthread->lcore == lcore) {
+			return lthread->thread;
+		}
+	}
+
+	return NULL;
+}
+
 static void
 bdevperf_construct_jobs(void)
 {
@@ -1865,7 +1902,11 @@ bdevperf_construct_jobs(void)
 	TAILQ_FOREACH(config, &job_config_list, link) {
 		filenames = config->filename;
 
-		thread = construct_job_thread(&config->cpumask, config->name);
+		if (!g_one_thread_per_lcore) {
+			thread = construct_job_thread(&config->cpumask, config->name);
+		} else {
+			thread = get_lcore_thread(config->lcore);
+		}
 		assert(thread);
 
 		while (filenames) {
@@ -1902,8 +1943,9 @@ make_cli_job_config(const char *filename, int64_t offset, uint64_t range)
 
 	config->name = filename;
 	config->filename = filename;
+	config->lcore = _get_next_core();
 	spdk_cpuset_zero(&config->cpumask);
-	spdk_cpuset_set_cpu(&config->cpumask, _get_next_core(), true);
+	spdk_cpuset_set_cpu(&config->cpumask, config->lcore, true);
 	config->bs = g_io_size;
 	config->iodepth = g_queue_depth;
 	config->rwmixread = g_rw_percentage;
@@ -1980,10 +2022,32 @@ bdevperf_construct_job_config(void *ctx, struct spdk_bdev *bdev)
 	return make_cli_job_config(spdk_bdev_get_name(bdev), 0, 0);
 }
 
+static void
+create_lcore_thread(uint32_t lcore)
+{
+	struct lcore_thread *lthread;
+	struct spdk_cpuset cpumask = {};
+	char name[32];
+
+	lthread = calloc(1, sizeof(*lthread));
+	assert(lthread != NULL);
+
+	lthread->lcore = lcore;
+
+	snprintf(name, sizeof(name), "lcore_%u", lcore);
+	spdk_cpuset_set_cpu(&cpumask, lcore, true);
+
+	lthread->thread = spdk_thread_create(name, &cpumask);
+	assert(lthread->thread != NULL);
+
+	TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&g_lcore_thread_list, lthread, link);
+}
+
 static void
 bdevperf_construct_job_configs(void)
 {
 	struct spdk_bdev *bdev;
+	uint32_t i;
 
 	/* There are three different modes for allocating jobs. Standard mode
 	 * (the default) creates one spdk_thread per bdev and runs the I/O job there.
@@ -1996,16 +2060,25 @@ bdevperf_construct_job_configs(void)
 	 * In "FIO" mode, threads are spawned per-job instead of per-bdev.
 	 * Each FIO job can be individually parameterized by filename, cpu mask, etc,
 	 * which is different from other modes in that they only support global options.
+	 *
+	 * Both for standard mode and "multithread" mode, if the -E flag is specified,
+	 * it creates one spdk_thread PER CORE. On each core, one spdk_thread is shared by
+	 * multiple jobs.
 	 */
 
 	if (g_bdevperf_conf) {
 		goto end;
-	} else if (g_multithread_mode) {
-		bdevperf_construct_multithread_job_configs();
-		goto end;
 	}
 
-	if (g_job_bdev_name != NULL) {
+	if (g_one_thread_per_lcore) {
+		SPDK_ENV_FOREACH_CORE(i) {
+			create_lcore_thread(i);
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (g_multithread_mode) {
+		bdevperf_construct_multithread_job_configs();
+	} else if (g_job_bdev_name != NULL) {
 		bdev = spdk_bdev_get_by_name(g_job_bdev_name);
 		if (bdev) {
 			/* Construct the job */
@@ -2381,6 +2454,8 @@ bdevperf_parse_arg(int ch, char *arg)
 		g_latency_display_level++;
 	} else if (ch == 'D') {
 		g_random_map = true;
+	} else if (ch == 'E') {
+		g_one_thread_per_lcore = true;
 	} else {
 		tmp = spdk_strtoll(optarg, 10);
 		if (tmp < 0) {
@@ -2446,6 +2521,7 @@ bdevperf_usage(void)
 	printf(" -j <filename>             use job config file\n");
 	printf(" -l                        display latency histogram, default: disable. -l display summary, -ll display details\n");
 	printf(" -D                        use a random map for picking offsets not previously read or written (for all jobs)\n");
+	printf(" -E                        share per lcore thread among jobs. Available only if -j is not used.\n");
 }
 
 static int
@@ -2467,6 +2543,10 @@ verify_test_params(struct spdk_app_opts *opts)
 	if (!g_bdevperf_conf_file && !g_workload_type) {
 		goto out;
 	}
+	if (g_bdevperf_conf_file && g_one_thread_per_lcore) {
+		printf("If bdevperf's config file is used, per lcore thread cannot be used\n");
+		goto out;
+	}
 	if (g_time_in_sec <= 0) {
 		goto out;
 	}
@@ -2568,7 +2648,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	opts.rpc_addr = NULL;
 	opts.shutdown_cb = spdk_bdevperf_shutdown_cb;
 
-	if ((rc = spdk_app_parse_args(argc, argv, &opts, "Zzfq:o:t:w:k:CF:M:P:S:T:Xlj:D", NULL,
+	if ((rc = spdk_app_parse_args(argc, argv, &opts, "Zzfq:o:t:w:k:CEF:M:P:S:T:Xlj:D", NULL,
 				      bdevperf_parse_arg, bdevperf_usage)) !=
 	    SPDK_APP_PARSE_ARGS_SUCCESS) {
 		return rc;