diff --git a/src/broker/test/overlay.c b/src/broker/test/overlay.c
index dfe9ed02b66e..170e7ce7e48c 100644
--- a/src/broker/test/overlay.c
+++ b/src/broker/test/overlay.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
 #include <flux/core.h>
 #include <zmq.h>
 
@@ -523,8 +524,22 @@ void test_create (flux_t *h,
              * handler, and overlay_authorize() will fail if it doesn't
              * exist.
              */
-            if (overlay_bind (ctx[0]->ov, uri) < 0)
-                BAIL_OUT ("%s: overlay_bind failed", ctx[0]->name);
+            while (1) {
+                if (overlay_bind (ctx[0]->ov, uri) < 0) {
+                    /* There's a small chance bind from previous test
+                     * not yet cleared, we'll retry until it works
+                     */
+                    if (errno != EADDRINUSE)
+                        BAIL_OUT ("%s: overlay_bind failed", ctx[0]->name);
+                    usleep (100000);
+                    ctx_destroy (ctx[rank]);
+                    ctx[rank] = ctx_create (h, size, rank, NULL, recv_cb);
+                    if (overlay_set_topology (ctx[rank]->ov, ctx[rank]->topo) < 0)
+                        BAIL_OUT ("%s: overlay_set_topology failed", ctx[rank]->name);
+                    continue;
+                }
+                break;
+            }
         }
         else {
             if (overlay_authorize (ctx[0]->ov,