diff --git a/pandas/core/computation/expressions.py b/pandas/core/computation/expressions.py
index 4f14ea73d5a88..0dbe5e8d83741 100644
--- a/pandas/core/computation/expressions.py
+++ b/pandas/core/computation/expressions.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 }
 
 # the minimum prod shape that we will use numexpr
-_MIN_ELEMENTS = 1_000_000
+_MIN_ELEMENTS = 10000
 
 
 def set_use_numexpr(v=True):
diff --git a/pandas/tests/test_expressions.py b/pandas/tests/test_expressions.py
index 96347ba5a733f..30f88ba5e76f6 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/test_expressions.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/test_expressions.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 )
 from pandas.core.computation import expressions as expr
 
-_frame = DataFrame(np.random.randn(1000000, 4), columns=list("ABCD"), dtype="float64")
+_frame = DataFrame(np.random.randn(10000, 4), columns=list("ABCD"), dtype="float64")
 _frame2 = DataFrame(np.random.randn(100, 4), columns=list("ABCD"), dtype="float64")
 _mixed = DataFrame(
     {