diff --git a/dpctl/_backend.pxd b/dpctl/_backend.pxd
index 23200cd1e5..5f306d70a0 100644
--- a/dpctl/_backend.pxd
+++ b/dpctl/_backend.pxd
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ cdef extern from "syclinterface/dpctl_sycl_enum_types.h":
     ctypedef enum _usm_type 'DPCTLSyclUSMType':
         _USM_UNKNOWN     'DPCTL_USM_UNKNOWN'
         _USM_DEVICE      'DPCTL_USM_DEVICE'
-        _USM_HOST        'DPCTL_USM_HOST'
         _USM_SHARED      'DPCTL_USM_SHARED'
+        _USM_HOST        'DPCTL_USM_HOST'
 
     ctypedef enum _backend_type 'DPCTLSyclBackendType':
         _ALL_BACKENDS    'DPCTL_ALL_BACKENDS'
diff --git a/dpctl/memory/_memory.pxd b/dpctl/memory/_memory.pxd
index 68fd7f4f13..a9e2719a19 100644
--- a/dpctl/memory/_memory.pxd
+++ b/dpctl/memory/_memory.pxd
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ in dpctl.memory._memory.pyx.
 
 """
 
-from .._backend cimport DPCTLSyclQueueRef, DPCTLSyclUSMRef
+from .._backend cimport DPCTLSyclQueueRef, DPCTLSyclUSMRef, _usm_type
 from .._sycl_context cimport SyclContext
 from .._sycl_device cimport SyclDevice
 from .._sycl_queue cimport SyclQueue
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ cdef public api class _Memory [object Py_MemoryObject, type Py_MemoryType]:
     @staticmethod
     cdef bytes get_pointer_type(DPCTLSyclUSMRef p, SyclContext ctx)
     @staticmethod
+    cdef _usm_type get_pointer_type_enum(DPCTLSyclUSMRef p, SyclContext ctx)
+    @staticmethod
     cdef object create_from_usm_pointer_size_qref(
         DPCTLSyclUSMRef USMRef,
         Py_ssize_t nbytes,
diff --git a/dpctl/memory/_memory.pyx b/dpctl/memory/_memory.pyx
index 93d5b507e0..b650dca33c 100644
--- a/dpctl/memory/_memory.pyx
+++ b/dpctl/memory/_memory.pyx
@@ -376,6 +376,39 @@ cdef class _Memory:
             "SyclContext or SyclQueue"
         )
 
+    def get_usm_type_enum(self, syclobj=None):
+        """
+        get_usm_type(syclobj=None)
+
+        Returns the type of USM allocation using Sycl context carried by
+        `syclobj` keyword argument. Value of None is understood to query
+        against `self.sycl_context` - the context used to create the
+        allocation.
+        """
+        cdef const char* kind
+        cdef SyclContext ctx
+        cdef SyclQueue q
+        if syclobj is None:
+            ctx = self._context
+            return _Memory.get_pointer_type_enum(
+                self.memory_ptr, ctx
+            )
+        elif isinstance(syclobj, SyclContext):
+            ctx = <SyclContext>(syclobj)
+            return _Memory.get_pointer_type_enum(
+                self.memory_ptr, ctx
+            )
+        elif isinstance(syclobj, SyclQueue):
+            q = <SyclQueue>(syclobj)
+            ctx = q.get_sycl_context()
+            return _Memory.get_pointer_type_enum(
+                self.memory_ptr, ctx
+            )
+        raise TypeError(
+            "syclobj keyword can be either None, or an instance of "
+            "SyclContext or SyclQueue"
+        )
+
     cpdef copy_to_host(self, obj=None):
         """
         Copy content of instance's memory into memory of ``obj``, or allocate
@@ -553,13 +586,35 @@ cdef class _Memory:
         )
         if usm_ty == _usm_type._USM_DEVICE:
             return b'device'
-        elif usm_ty == _usm_type._USM_HOST:
-            return b'host'
         elif usm_ty == _usm_type._USM_SHARED:
             return b'shared'
+        elif usm_ty == _usm_type._USM_HOST:
+            return b'host'
         else:
             return b'unknown'
 
+    @staticmethod
+    cdef _usm_type get_pointer_type_enum(DPCTLSyclUSMRef p, SyclContext ctx):
+        """
+        get_pointer_type(p, ctx)
+
+        Gives the SYCL(TM) USM pointer type, using ``sycl::get_pointer_type``,
+        returning an enum value.
+
+        Args:
+            p: DPCTLSyclUSMRef
+                A pointer to test the type of.
+            ctx: :class:`dpctl.SyclContext`
+                Python object providing :class:`dpctl.SyclContext` against
+                which to query for the pointer type.
+        Returns:
+            An enum value corresponding to the type of allocation.
+        """
+        cdef _usm_type usm_ty = DPCTLUSM_GetPointerType(
+            p, ctx.get_context_ref()
+        )
+        return usm_ty
+
     @staticmethod
     cdef object create_from_usm_pointer_size_qref(
         DPCTLSyclUSMRef USMRef, Py_ssize_t nbytes,
diff --git a/dpctl/tests/test_sycl_usm.py b/dpctl/tests/test_sycl_usm.py
index 9c92549c18..0efb6ccf6d 100644
--- a/dpctl/tests/test_sycl_usm.py
+++ b/dpctl/tests/test_sycl_usm.py
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ def test_pickling_reconstructor_invalid_type(memory_ctor):
 
     mobj = memory_ctor(1024, alignment=64)
     good_pickle_bytes = pickle.dumps(mobj)
-    usm_types = expected_usm_type(memory_ctor).encode("utf-8")
+    usm_types = expected_usm_type_str(memory_ctor).encode("utf-8")
     i = good_pickle_bytes.rfind(usm_types)
     bad_pickle_bytes = good_pickle_bytes[:i] + b"u" + good_pickle_bytes[i + 1 :]
     with pytest.raises(ValueError):
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ def memory_ctor(request):
     return request.param
 
 
-def expected_usm_type(ctor):
+def expected_usm_type_str(ctor):
     mapping = {
         MemoryUSMShared: "shared",
         MemoryUSMDevice: "device",
@@ -222,6 +222,15 @@ def expected_usm_type(ctor):
     return mapping.get(ctor, "unknown")
 
 
+def expected_usm_type_enum(ctor):
+    mapping = {
+        MemoryUSMShared: 2,
+        MemoryUSMDevice: 1,
+        MemoryUSMHost: 3,
+    }
+    return mapping.get(ctor, 0)
+
+
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
     not has_sycl_platforms(),
     reason="No SYCL devices except the default host device.",
@@ -230,7 +239,8 @@ def test_create_with_size_and_alignment_and_queue(memory_ctor):
     q = dpctl.SyclQueue()
     m = memory_ctor(1024, alignment=64, queue=q)
     assert m.nbytes == 1024
-    assert m.get_usm_type() == expected_usm_type(memory_ctor)
+    assert m.get_usm_type() == expected_usm_type_str(memory_ctor)
+    assert m.get_usm_type_enum() == expected_usm_type_enum(memory_ctor)
 
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
@@ -241,7 +251,8 @@ def test_create_with_size_and_queue(memory_ctor):
     q = dpctl.SyclQueue()
     m = memory_ctor(1024, queue=q)
     assert m.nbytes == 1024
-    assert m.get_usm_type() == expected_usm_type(memory_ctor)
+    assert m.get_usm_type() == expected_usm_type_str(memory_ctor)
+    assert m.get_usm_type_enum() == expected_usm_type_enum(memory_ctor)
 
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
@@ -251,17 +262,28 @@ def test_create_with_size_and_queue(memory_ctor):
 def test_create_with_size_and_alignment(memory_ctor):
     m = memory_ctor(1024, alignment=64)
     assert m.nbytes == 1024
-    assert m.get_usm_type() == expected_usm_type(memory_ctor)
+    assert m.get_usm_type() == expected_usm_type_str(memory_ctor)
+    assert m.get_usm_type_enum() == expected_usm_type_enum(memory_ctor)
 
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
     not has_sycl_platforms(),
     reason="No SYCL devices except the default host device.",
 )
-def test_create_with_only_size(memory_ctor):
-    m = memory_ctor(1024)
+def test_usm_type_execeptions():
+    ctor = MemoryUSMDevice
+    m = ctor(1024)
     assert m.nbytes == 1024
-    assert m.get_usm_type() == expected_usm_type(memory_ctor)
+    q = m.sycl_queue
+    assert m.get_usm_type(syclobj=q) == expected_usm_type_str(ctor)
+    assert m.get_usm_type_enum(syclobj=q) == expected_usm_type_enum(ctor)
+    ctx = q.sycl_context
+    assert m.get_usm_type(syclobj=ctx) == expected_usm_type_str(ctor)
+    assert m.get_usm_type_enum(syclobj=ctx) == expected_usm_type_enum(ctor)
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+        m.get_usm_type(syclobj=Ellipsis)
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+        m.get_usm_type_enum(syclobj=list())
 
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
diff --git a/libsyclinterface/include/dpctl_sycl_enum_types.h b/libsyclinterface/include/dpctl_sycl_enum_types.h
index 87bb279d8a..75a3374ddb 100644
--- a/libsyclinterface/include/dpctl_sycl_enum_types.h
+++ b/libsyclinterface/include/dpctl_sycl_enum_types.h
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ typedef enum
 {
     DPCTL_USM_UNKNOWN = 0,
     DPCTL_USM_DEVICE,
-    DPCTL_USM_HOST,
-    DPCTL_USM_SHARED
+    DPCTL_USM_SHARED,
+    DPCTL_USM_HOST
 } DPCTLSyclUSMType;
 
 /*!