diff --git a/pkg/storage/client_raft_test.go b/pkg/storage/client_raft_test.go
index 14c8b4f52943..de2c6002e036 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/client_raft_test.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/client_raft_test.go
@@ -3858,3 +3858,61 @@ func TestFailedConfChange(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 }
+
+// TestStoreRangeRemovalCompactionSuggestion verifies that if a replica
+// is removed from a store, a compaction suggestion is made to the
+// compactor queue.
+func TestStoreRangeRemovalCompactionSuggestion(t *testing.T) {
+	defer leaktest.AfterTest(t)()
+	sc := storage.TestStoreConfig(nil)
+	mtc := &multiTestContext{storeConfig: &sc}
+	defer mtc.Stop()
+	mtc.Start(t, 3)
+
+	const rangeID = roachpb.RangeID(1)
+	mtc.replicateRange(rangeID, 1, 2)
+
+	repl, err := mtc.stores[0].GetReplica(rangeID)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	ctx := repl.AnnotateCtx(context.Background())
+
+	deleteStore := mtc.stores[2]
+	if err := repl.ChangeReplicas(
+		ctx,
+		roachpb.REMOVE_REPLICA,
+		roachpb.ReplicationTarget{
+			NodeID:  deleteStore.Ident.NodeID,
+			StoreID: deleteStore.Ident.StoreID,
+		},
+		repl.Desc(),
+		storage.ReasonRebalance,
+		"",
+	); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	testutils.SucceedsSoon(t, func() error {
+		// Function to check compaction metrics indicating a suggestion
+		// was queued or a compaction was processed or skipped.
+		haveCompaction := func(s *storage.Store, exp bool) error {
+			queued := s.Compactor().Metrics.BytesQueued.Value()
+			comps := s.Compactor().Metrics.BytesCompacted.Count()
+			skipped := s.Compactor().Metrics.BytesSkipped.Count()
+			if exp != (queued > 0 || comps > 0 || skipped > 0) {
+				return errors.Errorf("%s: expected non-zero compaction metrics? %t; got queued=%d, compactions=%d, skipped=%d",
+					s, exp, queued, comps, skipped)
+			}
+			return nil
+		}
+		// Verify that no compaction metrics are showing non-zero bytes in the
+		// other stores.
+		for _, s := range mtc.stores {
+			if err := haveCompaction(s, s == deleteStore); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+		return nil
+	})
+}
diff --git a/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor.go b/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor.go
index a62123e6e770..5f63d6beabc8 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor.go
@@ -112,21 +112,27 @@ func NewCompactor(eng engine.WithSSTables, capFn storeCapacityFunc) *Compactor {
 // provided stopper indicates. Processing is done with a periodicity of
 // compactionMinInterval, but only if there are compactions pending.
 func (c *Compactor) Start(ctx context.Context, tracer opentracing.Tracer, stopper *stop.Stopper) {
-	if empty, err := c.isSpanEmpty(
-		ctx, keys.LocalStoreSuggestedCompactionsMin, keys.LocalStoreSuggestedCompactionsMax,
-	); err != nil {
-		log.Warningf(ctx, "failed check whether compaction suggestions exist: %s", err)
-	} else if !empty {
-		log.Eventf(ctx, "compactor starting in %s as there are suggested compactions pending", c.opts.CompactionMinInterval)
-		c.ch <- struct{}{} // wake up the goroutine immediately
-	}
+	// Wake up immediately to examine the queue and set the bytes queued metric.
+	c.ch <- struct{}{}
 
 	stopper.RunWorker(ctx, func(ctx context.Context) {
 		var timer timeutil.Timer
+		defer timer.Stop()
 		var timerSet bool
+
 		for {
 			select {
 			case <-c.ch:
+				// A new suggestion was made. Examine the compaction queue,
+				// which returns the number of bytes queued.
+				if bytesQueued, err := c.examineQueue(ctx); err != nil {
+					log.Warningf(ctx, "failed check whether compaction suggestions exist: %s", err)
+				} else if bytesQueued > 0 {
+					log.Eventf(ctx, "compactor starting in %s as there are suggested compactions pending", c.opts.CompactionMinInterval)
+				} else {
+					// Queue is empty, don't set the timer. This can happen only at startup.
+					break
+				}
 				// Set the wait timer if not already set.
 				if !timerSet {
 					timer.Reset(c.opts.CompactionMinInterval)
@@ -135,7 +141,6 @@ func (c *Compactor) Start(ctx context.Context, tracer opentracing.Tracer, stoppe
 
 			case <-timer.C:
 				timer.Read = true
-				timer.Stop()
 				spanCtx, cleanup := tracing.EnsureContext(ctx, tracer, "process suggested compactions")
 				ok, err := c.processSuggestions(spanCtx)
 				if err != nil {
@@ -143,8 +148,8 @@ func (c *Compactor) Start(ctx context.Context, tracer opentracing.Tracer, stoppe
 				}
 				cleanup()
 				if ok {
-					// Everything has been processed. Wait for the next
-					// suggested compaction before resetting the timer.
+					// The queue was processed. Wait for the next suggested
+					// compaction before resetting timer.
 					timerSet = false
 					break
 				}
@@ -185,7 +190,7 @@ func (aggr aggregatedCompaction) String() string {
 	if len(aggr.suggestions) == 1 {
 		seqFmt = fmt.Sprintf("#%d/%d", aggr.startIdx+1, aggr.total)
 	} else {
-		seqFmt = fmt.Sprintf("#%d-%d/%d", aggr.startIdx+1, aggr.startIdx+len(aggr.suggestions)+1, aggr.total)
+		seqFmt = fmt.Sprintf("#%d-%d/%d", aggr.startIdx+1, aggr.startIdx+len(aggr.suggestions), aggr.total)
 	}
 	return fmt.Sprintf("%s (%s-%s) for %s", seqFmt, aggr.StartKey, aggr.EndKey, humanizeutil.IBytes(aggr.Bytes))
 }
@@ -195,7 +200,7 @@ func (aggr aggregatedCompaction) String() string {
 // exceed the absolute or fractional size thresholds. If suggested
 // compactions don't meet thresholds, they're discarded if they're
 // older than maxSuggestedCompactionRecordAge. Returns a boolean
-// indicating whether the processing occurred.
+// indicating whether the queue was successfully processed.
 func (c *Compactor) processSuggestions(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
 	// Collect all suggestions.
 	var suggestions []storagebase.SuggestedCompaction
@@ -332,7 +337,11 @@ func (c *Compactor) processCompaction(
 			log.Fatal(ctx, err) // should never happen on a batch
 		}
 	}
-	return aggr.Bytes, nil
+
+	if shouldProcess {
+		return aggr.Bytes, nil
+	}
+	return 0, nil
 }
 
 // aggregateCompaction merges sc into aggr, to create a new suggested
@@ -369,22 +378,26 @@ func (c *Compactor) aggregateCompaction(
 	return false // aggregated successfully
 }
 
-// isSpanEmpty returns whether the specified key span is empty (true)
-// or contains keys (false).
-func (c *Compactor) isSpanEmpty(ctx context.Context, start, end roachpb.Key) (bool, error) {
-	// If there are any suggested compactions, start the compaction timer.
-	var empty = true
+// examineQueue returns the total number of bytes queued and updates the
+// BytesQueued gauge.
+func (c *Compactor) examineQueue(ctx context.Context) (int64, error) {
+	var totalBytes int64
 	if err := c.eng.Iterate(
-		engine.MVCCKey{Key: start},
-		engine.MVCCKey{Key: end},
-		func(_ engine.MVCCKeyValue) (bool, error) {
-			empty = false
-			return true, nil // don't continue iteration
+		engine.MVCCKey{Key: keys.LocalStoreSuggestedCompactionsMin},
+		engine.MVCCKey{Key: keys.LocalStoreSuggestedCompactionsMax},
+		func(kv engine.MVCCKeyValue) (bool, error) {
+			var c storagebase.Compaction
+			if err := protoutil.Unmarshal(kv.Value, &c); err != nil {
+				return false, err
+			}
+			totalBytes += c.Bytes
+			return false, nil // continue iteration
 		},
 	); err != nil {
-		return false, err
+		return 0, err
 	}
-	return empty, nil
+	c.Metrics.BytesQueued.Update(totalBytes)
+	return totalBytes, nil
 }
 
 // SuggestCompaction writes the specified compaction to persistent
diff --git a/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor_test.go b/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor_test.go
index f4430e18ee0c..09d4a7cd2930 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor_test.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor_test.go
@@ -505,7 +505,7 @@ func TestCompactorProcessingInitialization(t *testing.T) {
 	defer cleanup()
 
 	// Add a suggested compaction -- this won't get processed by this
-	// compactor for two minutes.
+	// compactor for an hour.
 	compactor.opts.CompactionMinInterval = time.Hour
 	compactor.SuggestCompaction(context.Background(), storagebase.SuggestedCompaction{
 		StartKey: key("a"), EndKey: key("b"),
@@ -567,10 +567,8 @@ func TestCompactorCleansUpOldRecords(t *testing.T) {
 			return fmt.Errorf("expected skipped bytes %d; got %d", e, a)
 		}
 		// Verify compaction queue is empty.
-		if empty, err := compactor.isSpanEmpty(
-			context.Background(), keys.LocalStoreSuggestedCompactionsMin, keys.LocalStoreSuggestedCompactionsMax,
-		); err != nil || !empty {
-			return fmt.Errorf("compaction queue not empty or err: %t, %v", empty, err)
+		if bytesQueued, err := compactor.examineQueue(context.Background()); err != nil || bytesQueued > 0 {
+			return fmt.Errorf("compaction queue not empty (%d bytes) or err %v", bytesQueued, err)
 		}
 		return nil
 	})
diff --git a/pkg/storage/replica.go b/pkg/storage/replica.go
index 0ee414527321..6cafe0c588d4 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/replica.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/replica.go
@@ -775,11 +775,22 @@ func (r *Replica) destroyDataRaftMuLocked(
 
 	// NB: this uses the local descriptor instead of the consistent one to match
 	// the data on disk.
-	if err := clearRangeData(ctx, r.Desc(), ms.KeyCount, r.store.Engine(), batch); err != nil {
+	desc := r.Desc()
+	if err := clearRangeData(ctx, desc, ms.KeyCount, r.store.Engine(), batch); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	clearTime := timeutil.Now()
 
+	// Suggest the cleared range to the compactor queue.
+	r.store.compactor.SuggestCompaction(ctx, storagebase.SuggestedCompaction{
+		StartKey: roachpb.Key(desc.StartKey),
+		EndKey:   roachpb.Key(desc.EndKey),
+		Compaction: storagebase.Compaction{
+			Bytes:            ms.Total(),
+			SuggestedAtNanos: clearTime.UnixNano(),
+		},
+	})
+
 	// Save a tombstone to ensure that replica IDs never get reused.
 	if err := r.setTombstoneKey(ctx, batch, &consistentDesc); err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/pkg/storage/store.go b/pkg/storage/store.go
index 8a61847eee9f..db5886bc3e22 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/store.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/store.go
@@ -1771,6 +1771,9 @@ func (s *Store) DB() *client.DB { return s.cfg.DB }
 // Gossip accessor.
 func (s *Store) Gossip() *gossip.Gossip { return s.cfg.Gossip }
 
+// Compactor accessor.
+func (s *Store) Compactor() *compactor.Compactor { return s.compactor }
+
 // Stopper accessor.
 func (s *Store) Stopper() *stop.Stopper { return s.stopper }