diff --git a/asv_bench/benchmarks/multiindex_object.py b/asv_bench/benchmarks/multiindex_object.py
index a498c6b2e4944..782eb15234ea4 100644
--- a/asv_bench/benchmarks/multiindex_object.py
+++ b/asv_bench/benchmarks/multiindex_object.py
@@ -24,6 +24,13 @@ def setup(self):
         self.mi_small = MultiIndex.from_product(
             [np.arange(100), list("A"), list("A")], names=["one", "two", "three"]
         )
+        self.mi_wide = MultiIndex.from_tuples(
+            [
+                np.hstack([2, np.ones(99)]),
+                np.ones(100),
+                np.ones(100),
+            ],
+        )
 
     def time_large_get_loc(self):
         self.mi_large.get_loc((999, 19, "Z"))
@@ -32,6 +39,9 @@ def time_large_get_loc_warm(self):
         for _ in range(1000):
             self.mi_large.get_loc((999, 19, "Z"))
 
+    def time_wide_get_loc(self):
+        self.mi_wide.get_loc((1, 1))
+
     def time_med_get_loc(self):
         self.mi_med.get_loc((999, 9, "A"))
 
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/algos.pyi b/pandas/_libs/algos.pyi
index 0cc9209fbdfc5..3b9e320bd6889 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/algos.pyi
+++ b/pandas/_libs/algos.pyi
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ def unique_deltas(
     arr: np.ndarray,  # const int64_t[:]
 ) -> np.ndarray: ...  # np.ndarray[np.int64, ndim=1]
 def is_lexsorted(list_of_arrays: list[npt.NDArray[np.int64]]) -> bool: ...
+def lexsort_depth(list_of_arrays: list[npt.NDArray[np.int64]]) -> int: ...
 def groupsort_indexer(
     index: np.ndarray,  # const int64_t[:]
     ngroups: int,
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/algos.pyx b/pandas/_libs/algos.pyx
index c05d6a300ccf0..ee76d4157609d 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/algos.pyx
+++ b/pandas/_libs/algos.pyx
@@ -167,12 +167,11 @@ def is_lexsorted(list_of_arrays: list) -> bint:
         assert arr.dtype.name == 'int64'
         vecs[i] = <int64_t*>cnp.PyArray_DATA(arr)
 
-    # Assume uniqueness??
     with nogil:
         for i in range(1, n):
             for k in range(nlevels):
                 cur = vecs[k][i]
-                pre = vecs[k][i -1]
+                pre = vecs[k][i-1]
                 if cur == pre:
                     continue
                 elif cur > pre:
@@ -186,6 +185,51 @@ def is_lexsorted(list_of_arrays: list) -> bint:
     return result
 
 
+@cython.wraparound(False)
+@cython.boundscheck(False)
+def lexsort_depth(list_of_arrays: list) -> Py_ssize_t:
+    """
+    Same as `is_lexsorted`, but keeps track of lexsort depth
+    as we iterate through the elements, and exits early if depth
+    is zero.
+    """
+    cdef:
+        Py_ssize_t i, depth, k
+        Py_ssize_t n, nlevels
+        int64_t cur, pre
+        ndarray arr
+
+    nlevels = len(list_of_arrays)
+    n = len(list_of_arrays[0])
+
+    cdef int64_t **vecs = <int64_t**>malloc(nlevels * sizeof(int64_t*))
+    for i in range(nlevels):
+        arr = list_of_arrays[i]
+        assert arr.dtype.name == 'int64'
+        vecs[i] = <int64_t*>cnp.PyArray_DATA(arr)
+
+    with nogil:
+        depth = nlevels
+        for i in range(1, n):
+            k = 0
+            while k < depth:
+                cur = vecs[k][i]
+                pre = vecs[k][i-1]
+                if cur == pre:
+                    k += 1
+                    continue
+                elif cur > pre:
+                    break
+                else:
+                    depth = min(k, depth)
+                k += 1
+            if depth == 0:
+                # Depth can't increase, so if we've reached 0, break outer loop.
+                break
+    free(vecs)
+    return depth
+
+
 @cython.boundscheck(False)
 @cython.wraparound(False)
 def groupsort_indexer(const intp_t[:] index, Py_ssize_t ngroups):
diff --git a/pandas/core/indexes/multi.py b/pandas/core/indexes/multi.py
index fd6b6ba63d7e0..0fa9afbd5aa10 100644
--- a/pandas/core/indexes/multi.py
+++ b/pandas/core/indexes/multi.py
@@ -3851,10 +3851,7 @@ def drop_duplicates(self, keep: str | bool = "first") -> MultiIndex:
 def _lexsort_depth(codes: list[np.ndarray], nlevels: int) -> int:
     """Count depth (up to a maximum of `nlevels`) with which codes are lexsorted."""
     int64_codes = [ensure_int64(level_codes) for level_codes in codes]
-    for k in range(nlevels, 0, -1):
-        if libalgos.is_lexsorted(int64_codes[:k]):
-            return k
-    return 0
+    return libalgos.lexsort_depth(int64_codes)
 
 
 def sparsify_labels(label_list, start: int = 0, sentinel=""):