diff --git a/bigquery/storage_iterator.go b/bigquery/storage_iterator.go
index 70abe0cd2ea1..a7a8cdd38ce9 100644
--- a/bigquery/storage_iterator.go
+++ b/bigquery/storage_iterator.go
@@ -244,17 +244,10 @@ func (it *storageArrowIterator) processStream(readStream string) {
 			Offset:     offset,
 		})
 		if err != nil {
-			if it.rs.ctx.Err() != nil { // context cancelled, don't try again
+			serr := it.handleProcessStreamError(readStream, bo, err)
+			if serr != nil {
 				return
 			}
-			backoff, shouldRetry := retryReadRows(bo, err)
-			if shouldRetry {
-				if err := gax.Sleep(it.rs.ctx, backoff); err != nil {
-					return // context cancelled
-				}
-				continue
-			}
-			it.errs <- fmt.Errorf("failed to read rows on stream %s: %w", readStream, err)
 			continue
 		}
 		offset, err = it.consumeRowStream(readStream, rowStream, offset)
@@ -262,22 +255,38 @@ func (it *storageArrowIterator) processStream(readStream string) {
 			return
 		}
 		if err != nil {
-			if it.rs.ctx.Err() != nil { // context cancelled, don't queue error
+			serr := it.handleProcessStreamError(readStream, bo, err)
+			if serr != nil {
 				return
 			}
-			backoff, shouldRetry := retryReadRows(bo, err)
-			if shouldRetry {
-				if err := gax.Sleep(it.rs.ctx, backoff); err != nil {
-					return // context cancelled
-				}
-				continue
-			}
-			it.errs <- fmt.Errorf("failed to read rows on stream %s: %w", readStream, err)
 			// try to re-open row stream with updated offset
 		}
 	}
 }
 
+// handleProcessStreamError check if err is retryable,
+// waiting with exponential backoff in that scenario.
+// If error is not retryable, queue up err to be sent to user.
+// Return error if should exit the goroutine.
+func (it *storageArrowIterator) handleProcessStreamError(readStream string, bo gax.Backoff, err error) error {
+	if it.rs.ctx.Err() != nil { // context cancelled, don't try again
+		return it.rs.ctx.Err()
+	}
+	backoff, shouldRetry := retryReadRows(bo, err)
+	if shouldRetry {
+		if err := gax.Sleep(it.rs.ctx, backoff); err != nil {
+			return err // context cancelled
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
+	select {
+	case it.errs <- fmt.Errorf("failed to read rows on stream %s: %w", readStream, err):
+		return nil
+	case <-it.rs.ctx.Done():
+		return context.Canceled
+	}
+}
+
 func retryReadRows(bo gax.Backoff, err error) (time.Duration, bool) {
 	s, ok := status.FromError(err)
 	if !ok {
diff --git a/bigquery/storage_iterator_test.go b/bigquery/storage_iterator_test.go
index 33dc77201dcc..5e83c7c4729f 100644
--- a/bigquery/storage_iterator_test.go
+++ b/bigquery/storage_iterator_test.go
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestStorageIteratorRetry(t *testing.T) {
+	settings := defaultReadClientSettings()
+	randomErrors := []error{} // generate more errors than the # of workers
+	for i := 0; i < settings.maxWorkerCount+2; i++ {
+		randomErrors = append(randomErrors, fmt.Errorf("random error %d", i))
+	}
 	cancelledCtx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	cancel()
 	testCases := []struct {
@@ -84,6 +89,11 @@ func TestStorageIteratorRetry(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			wantFail: true,
 		},
+		{
+			desc:     "filled with non-retryable errors and context cancelled",
+			errors:   randomErrors,
+			wantFail: true,
+		},
 	}
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
 		rrc := &testReadRowsClient{
@@ -115,9 +125,9 @@ func TestStorageIteratorRetry(t *testing.T) {
 
 			it, err := newRawStorageRowIterator(&readSession{
 				ctx:          ctx,
-				settings:     defaultReadClientSettings(),
-				readRowsFunc: readRowsFunc,
+				settings:     settings,
 				bqSession:    &storagepb.ReadSession{},
+				readRowsFunc: readRowsFunc,
 			}, Schema{})
 			if err != nil {
 				t.Fatalf("case %s: newRawStorageRowIterator: %v", tc.desc, err)
@@ -125,7 +135,8 @@ func TestStorageIteratorRetry(t *testing.T) {
 
 			it.processStream("test-stream")
 
-			if errors.Is(it.rs.ctx.Err(), context.Canceled) || errors.Is(it.rs.ctx.Err(), context.DeadlineExceeded) {
+			if errors.Is(it.rs.ctx.Err(), context.Canceled) ||
+				errors.Is(it.rs.ctx.Err(), context.DeadlineExceeded) {
 				if tc.wantFail {
 					continue
 				}