diff --git a/include/spdk/thread.h b/include/spdk/thread.h
index b0520ac05..457df8bde 100644
--- a/include/spdk/thread.h
+++ b/include/spdk/thread.h
@@ -191,6 +191,11 @@ struct spdk_thread *spdk_allocate_thread(spdk_thread_pass_msg msg_fn,
  */
 void spdk_free_thread(void);
 
+/**
+ * Get count of allocated threads.
+ */
+uint32_t spdk_thread_get_count(void);
+
 /**
  * Get a handle to the current thread.
  *
diff --git a/lib/bdev/bdev.c b/lib/bdev/bdev.c
index 642daa780..a35330aeb 100644
--- a/lib/bdev/bdev.c
+++ b/lib/bdev/bdev.c
@@ -635,10 +635,10 @@ spdk_bdev_initialize(spdk_bdev_init_cb cb_fn, void *cb_arg)
 
 	/**
 	 * Ensure no more than half of the total buffers end up local caches, by
-	 *   using spdk_env_get_core_count() to determine how many local caches we need
+	 *   using spdk_thread_get_count() to determine how many local caches we need
 	 *   to account for.
 	 */
-	cache_size = BUF_SMALL_POOL_SIZE / (2 * spdk_env_get_core_count());
+	cache_size = BUF_SMALL_POOL_SIZE / (2 * spdk_thread_get_count());
 	snprintf(mempool_name, sizeof(mempool_name), "buf_small_pool_%d", getpid());
 
 	g_bdev_mgr.buf_small_pool = spdk_mempool_create(mempool_name,
@@ -652,7 +652,7 @@ spdk_bdev_initialize(spdk_bdev_init_cb cb_fn, void *cb_arg)
 		return;
 	}
 
-	cache_size = BUF_LARGE_POOL_SIZE / (2 * spdk_env_get_core_count());
+	cache_size = BUF_LARGE_POOL_SIZE / (2 * spdk_thread_get_count());
 	snprintf(mempool_name, sizeof(mempool_name), "buf_large_pool_%d", getpid());
 
 	g_bdev_mgr.buf_large_pool = spdk_mempool_create(mempool_name,
diff --git a/lib/thread/thread.c b/lib/thread/thread.c
index 713737c0c..c981ab3d2 100644
--- a/lib/thread/thread.c
+++ b/lib/thread/thread.c
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ struct spdk_thread {
 };
 
 static TAILQ_HEAD(, spdk_thread) g_threads = TAILQ_HEAD_INITIALIZER(g_threads);
+static uint32_t g_thread_count = 0;
 
 static struct spdk_thread *
 _get_thread(void)
@@ -137,6 +138,7 @@ spdk_allocate_thread(spdk_thread_pass_msg msg_fn,
 	thread->thread_ctx = thread_ctx;
 	TAILQ_INIT(&thread->io_channels);
 	TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&g_threads, thread, tailq);
+	g_thread_count++;
 	if (name) {
 		_set_thread_name(name);
 		thread->name = strdup(name);
@@ -161,6 +163,8 @@ spdk_free_thread(void)
 		return;
 	}
 
+	assert(g_thread_count > 0);
+	g_thread_count--;
 	TAILQ_REMOVE(&g_threads, thread, tailq);
 	free(thread->name);
 	free(thread);
@@ -168,6 +172,17 @@ spdk_free_thread(void)
 	pthread_mutex_unlock(&g_devlist_mutex);
 }
 
+uint32_t
+spdk_thread_get_count(void)
+{
+	/*
+	 * Return cached value of the current thread count.  We could acquire the
+	 *  lock and iterate through the TAILQ of threads to count them, but that
+	 *  count could still be invalidated after we release the lock.
+	 */
+	return g_thread_count;
+}
+
 struct spdk_thread *
 spdk_get_thread(void)
 {
diff --git a/test/common/lib/test_env.c b/test/common/lib/test_env.c
index e0fcf828c..bc21c7178 100644
--- a/test/common/lib/test_env.c
+++ b/test/common/lib/test_env.c
@@ -316,9 +316,3 @@ spdk_pci_addr_compare(const struct spdk_pci_addr *a1, const struct spdk_pci_addr
 
 	return 0;
 }
-
-uint32_t
-spdk_env_get_core_count(void)
-{
-	return 1;
-}