diff --git a/Documentation/config/checkout.txt b/Documentation/config/checkout.txt
index 6b646813abadc9..d6872ffa83ea5a 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/checkout.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/checkout.txt
@@ -16,3 +16,11 @@ will checkout the '<something>' branch on another remote,
 and by linkgit:git-worktree[1] when 'git worktree add' refers to a
 remote branch. This setting might be used for other checkout-like
 commands or functionality in the future.
+
+checkout.optimizeNewBranch::
+	Optimizes the performance of "git checkout -b <new_branch>" when
+	using sparse-checkout.  When set to true, git will not update the
+	repo based on the current sparse-checkout settings.  This means it
+	will not update the skip-worktree bit in the index nor add/remove
+	files in the working directory to reflect the current sparse checkout
+	settings nor will it show the local changes.
diff --git a/builtin/checkout.c b/builtin/checkout.c
index 6123f732a2c84f..32c8edccaf986f 100644
--- a/builtin/checkout.c
+++ b/builtin/checkout.c
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@
 #include "wt-status.h"
 #include "xdiff-interface.h"
 
+static int checkout_optimize_new_branch;
+
 static const char * const checkout_usage[] = {
 	N_("git checkout [<options>] <branch>"),
 	N_("git checkout [<options>] [<branch>] -- <file>..."),
@@ -71,6 +73,11 @@ struct checkout_opts {
 	const char *ignore_unmerged_opt;
 	int ignore_unmerged;
 
+	/*
+	 * If new checkout options are added, skip_merge_working_tree
+	 * should be updated accordingly.
+	 */
+
 	const char *new_branch;
 	const char *new_branch_force;
 	const char *new_orphan_branch;
@@ -637,6 +644,112 @@ static void setup_branch_path(struct branch_info *branch)
 	branch->path = strbuf_detach(&buf, NULL);
 }
 
+/*
+ * Skip merging the trees, updating the index and working directory if and
+ * only if we are creating a new branch via "git checkout -b <new_branch>."
+ */
+static int skip_merge_working_tree(const struct checkout_opts *opts,
+	const struct branch_info *old_branch_info,
+	const struct branch_info *new_branch_info)
+{
+	/*
+	 * Do the merge if sparse checkout is on and the user has not opted in
+	 * to the optimized behavior
+	 */
+	if (core_apply_sparse_checkout && !checkout_optimize_new_branch)
+		return 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * We must do the merge if we are actually moving to a new commit.
+	 */
+	if (!old_branch_info->commit || !new_branch_info->commit ||
+		!oideq(&old_branch_info->commit->object.oid,
+		       &new_branch_info->commit->object.oid))
+		return 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * opts->patch_mode cannot be used with switching branches so is
+	 * not tested here
+	 */
+
+	/*
+	 * opts->quiet only impacts output so doesn't require a merge
+	 */
+
+	/*
+	 * Honor the explicit request for a three-way merge or to throw away
+	 * local changes
+	 */
+	if (opts->merge || opts->force)
+		return 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * --detach is documented as "updating the index and the files in the
+	 * working tree" but this optimization skips those steps so fall through
+	 * to the regular code path.
+	 */
+	if (opts->force_detach)
+		return 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * opts->writeout_stage cannot be used with switching branches so is
+	 * not tested here
+	 */
+
+	/*
+	 * Honor the explicit ignore requests
+	 */
+	if (!opts->overwrite_ignore || opts->ignore_skipworktree ||
+		opts->ignore_other_worktrees)
+		return 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * opts->show_progress only impacts output so doesn't require a merge
+	 */
+
+	/*
+	 * opts->overlay_mode cannot be used with switching branches so is
+	 * not tested here
+	 */
+
+	/*
+	 * If we aren't creating a new branch any changes or updates will
+	 * happen in the existing branch.  Since that could only be updating
+	 * the index and working directory, we don't want to skip those steps
+	 * or we've defeated any purpose in running the command.
+	 */
+	if (!opts->new_branch)
+		return 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * new_branch_force is defined to "create/reset and checkout a branch"
+	 * so needs to go through the merge to do the reset
+	 */
+	if (opts->new_branch_force)
+		return 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * A new orphaned branch requrires the index and the working tree to be
+	 * adjusted to <start_point>
+	 */
+	if (opts->new_orphan_branch)
+		return 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * Remaining variables are not checkout options but used to track state
+	 */
+
+	 /*
+	  * Do the merge if this is the initial checkout. We cannot use
+	  * is_cache_unborn() here because the index hasn't been loaded yet
+	  * so cache_nr and timestamp.sec are always zero.
+	  */
+	if (!file_exists(get_index_file()))
+		return 0;
+
+	return 1;
+}
+
 static int merge_working_tree(const struct checkout_opts *opts,
 			      struct branch_info *old_branch_info,
 			      struct branch_info *new_branch_info,
@@ -1039,7 +1152,6 @@ static int switch_branches(const struct checkout_opts *opts,
 			BUG("'switch --orphan' should never accept a commit as starting point");
 		new_branch_info->commit = NULL;
 		new_branch_info->name = "(empty)";
-		do_merge = 1;
 	}
 
 	if (!new_branch_info->name) {
@@ -1053,7 +1165,16 @@ static int switch_branches(const struct checkout_opts *opts,
 			do_merge = 0;
 	}
 
-	if (do_merge) {
+	/* optimize the "checkout -b <new_branch> path */
+	if (!do_merge || skip_merge_working_tree(opts, &old_branch_info, new_branch_info)) {
+		if (!checkout_optimize_new_branch && !opts->quiet) {
+			if (read_cache_preload(NULL) < 0)
+				return error(_("index file corrupt"));
+			show_local_changes(&new_branch_info->commit->object, &opts->diff_options);
+		}
+		if (!opts->only_merge_on_switching_branches)
+			warning(_("'git checkout -b <new-branch>' is being deprecated in favor of 'git switch -c <new-branch>'. Please adjust your workflow accordingly."));
+	} else {
 		ret = merge_working_tree(opts, &old_branch_info, new_branch_info, &writeout_error);
 		if (ret) {
 			free(path_to_free);
@@ -1073,6 +1194,11 @@ static int switch_branches(const struct checkout_opts *opts,
 
 static int git_checkout_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 {
+	if (!strcmp(var, "checkout.optimizenewbranch")) {
+		checkout_optimize_new_branch = git_config_bool(var, value);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	if (!strcmp(var, "diff.ignoresubmodules")) {
 		struct checkout_opts *opts = cb;
 		handle_ignore_submodules_arg(&opts->diff_options, value);
diff --git a/t/t1090-sparse-checkout-scope.sh b/t/t1090-sparse-checkout-scope.sh
index 40cc004326e2f0..090b7fc3d35d1a 100755
--- a/t/t1090-sparse-checkout-scope.sh
+++ b/t/t1090-sparse-checkout-scope.sh
@@ -31,6 +31,20 @@ test_expect_success 'perform sparse checkout of master' '
 	test_path_is_file c
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'checkout -b checkout.optimizeNewBranch interaction' '
+	cp .git/info/sparse-checkout .git/info/sparse-checkout.bak &&
+	test_when_finished "
+		mv -f .git/info/sparse-checkout.bak .git/info/sparse-checkout
+		git checkout master
+	" &&
+	echo "/b" >>.git/info/sparse-checkout &&
+	test "$(git ls-files -t b)" = "S b" &&
+	git -c checkout.optimizeNewBranch=true checkout -b fast &&
+	test "$(git ls-files -t b)" = "S b" &&
+	git checkout -b slow &&
+	test "$(git ls-files -t b)" = "H b"
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'merge feature branch into sparse checkout of master' '
 	git merge feature &&
 	test_path_is_file a &&
diff --git a/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh b/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
index c81ca360ac4ac9..35100cf9c47796 100755
--- a/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
+++ b/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
@@ -1253,7 +1253,7 @@ do
 			git cat-file commit $SHA1_2 &&
 			test_must_fail env GIT_TEST_PROTOCOL_VERSION= \
 				git fetch ../testrepo/.git $SHA1_3 2>err &&
-			test_i18ngrep "remote error:.*not our ref.*$SHA1_3\$" err
+			test_i18ngrep "not our ref.*$SHA1_3" err
 		)
 	'
 done