diff --git a/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_select_dtypes.py b/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_select_dtypes.py
index 67dd5b6217187..a38d2c6fd016a 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_select_dtypes.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_select_dtypes.py
@@ -339,9 +339,7 @@ def test_select_dtypes_datetime_with_tz(self):
         expected = df3.reindex(columns=[])
         tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
 
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-        "dtype", [str, "str", np.bytes_, "S1", "unicode", np.str_, "U1"]
-    )
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("dtype", [str, "str", np.bytes_, "S1", np.str_, "U1"])
     @pytest.mark.parametrize("arg", ["include", "exclude"])
     def test_select_dtypes_str_raises(self, dtype, arg):
         df = DataFrame(
diff --git a/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_to_records.py b/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_to_records.py
index fa8c4e4811ea6..fab90b112fa94 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_to_records.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_to_records.py
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ def test_to_records_with_categorical(self):
             ),
             # Pass in a dtype instance.
             (
-                {"column_dtypes": np.dtype("unicode")},
+                {"column_dtypes": np.dtype(np.str_)},
                 np.rec.array(
                     [("0", "1", "0.2", "a"), ("1", "2", "1.5", "bc")],
                     dtype=[
diff --git a/pandas/tests/indexes/base_class/test_setops.py b/pandas/tests/indexes/base_class/test_setops.py
index 21d1630af9de2..488f79eea0d11 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/indexes/base_class/test_setops.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/indexes/base_class/test_setops.py
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ def test_symmetric_difference(self):
                 "intersection",
                 np.array(
                     [(1, "A"), (2, "A"), (1, "B"), (2, "B")],
-                    dtype=[("num", int), ("let", "a1")],
+                    dtype=[("num", int), ("let", "S1")],
                 ),
                 False,
             ),
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ def test_symmetric_difference(self):
                 "intersection",
                 np.array(
                     [(1, "A"), (1, "B"), (2, "A"), (2, "B")],
-                    dtype=[("num", int), ("let", "a1")],
+                    dtype=[("num", int), ("let", "S1")],
                 ),
                 None,
             ),
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ def test_symmetric_difference(self):
                 "union",
                 np.array(
                     [(1, "A"), (1, "B"), (1, "C"), (2, "A"), (2, "B"), (2, "C")],
-                    dtype=[("num", int), ("let", "a1")],
+                    dtype=[("num", int), ("let", "S1")],
                 ),
                 None,
             ),
@@ -208,13 +208,13 @@ def test_tuple_union_bug(self, method, expected, sort):
         index1 = Index(
             np.array(
                 [(1, "A"), (2, "A"), (1, "B"), (2, "B")],
-                dtype=[("num", int), ("let", "a1")],
+                dtype=[("num", int), ("let", "S1")],
             )
         )
         index2 = Index(
             np.array(
                 [(1, "A"), (2, "A"), (1, "B"), (2, "B"), (1, "C"), (2, "C")],
-                dtype=[("num", int), ("let", "a1")],
+                dtype=[("num", int), ("let", "S1")],
             )
         )
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/json/test_pandas.py b/pandas/tests/io/json/test_pandas.py
index 4280f8617517f..2767078674632 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/json/test_pandas.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/json/test_pandas.py
@@ -604,7 +604,7 @@ def test_blocks_compat_GH9037(self):
         )
 
         # JSON deserialisation always creates unicode strings
-        df_mixed.columns = df_mixed.columns.astype("unicode")
+        df_mixed.columns = df_mixed.columns.astype(np.str_)
         data = StringIO(df_mixed.to_json(orient="split"))
         df_roundtrip = read_json(data, orient="split")
         tm.assert_frame_equal(