diff --git a/bigquery_storage/google/cloud/bigquery_storage_v1beta1/reader.py b/bigquery_storage/google/cloud/bigquery_storage_v1beta1/reader.py
index 138fae4110eb..b2c4a704afe3 100644
--- a/bigquery_storage/google/cloud/bigquery_storage_v1beta1/reader.py
+++ b/bigquery_storage/google/cloud/bigquery_storage_v1beta1/reader.py
@@ -311,6 +311,21 @@ def to_dataframe(self, dtypes=None):
         if pandas is None:
             raise ImportError(_PANDAS_REQUIRED)
 
+        if dtypes is None:
+            dtypes = {}
+
+        # If it's an Arrow stream, calling to_arrow, then converting to a
+        # pandas dataframe is about 2x faster. This is because pandas.concat is
+        # rarely no-copy, whereas pyarrow.Table.from_batches + to_pandas is
+        # usually no-copy.
+        schema_type = self._read_session.WhichOneof("schema")
+        if schema_type == "arrow_schema":
+            record_batch = self.to_arrow()
+            df = record_batch.to_pandas()
+            for column in dtypes:
+                df[column] = pandas.Series(df[column], dtype=dtypes[column])
+            return df
+
         frames = []
         for page in self.pages:
             frames.append(page.to_dataframe(dtypes=dtypes))
@@ -403,6 +418,7 @@ def to_dataframe(self, dtypes=None):
         """
         if pandas is None:
             raise ImportError(_PANDAS_REQUIRED)
+
         return self._stream_parser.to_dataframe(self._message, dtypes=dtypes)
 
 
diff --git a/bigquery_storage/tests/unit/test_reader.py b/bigquery_storage/tests/unit/test_reader.py
index 748a45608f3a..09d2a6b69503 100644
--- a/bigquery_storage/tests/unit/test_reader.py
+++ b/bigquery_storage/tests/unit/test_reader.py
@@ -173,9 +173,9 @@ def _bq_to_arrow_batches(bq_blocks, arrow_schema):
     return arrow_batches
 
 
-def _avro_blocks_w_unavailable(avro_blocks):
-    for block in avro_blocks:
-        yield block
+def _pages_w_unavailable(pages):
+    for page in pages:
+        yield page
     raise google.api_core.exceptions.ServiceUnavailable("test: please reconnect")
 
 
@@ -371,9 +371,7 @@ def test_rows_w_reconnect(class_under_test, mock_client):
         [{"int_col": 123}, {"int_col": 234}],
         [{"int_col": 345}, {"int_col": 456}],
     ]
-    avro_blocks_1 = _avro_blocks_w_unavailable(
-        _bq_to_avro_blocks(bq_blocks_1, avro_schema)
-    )
+    avro_blocks_1 = _pages_w_unavailable(_bq_to_avro_blocks(bq_blocks_1, avro_schema))
     bq_blocks_2 = [[{"int_col": 567}, {"int_col": 789}], [{"int_col": 890}]]
     avro_blocks_2 = _bq_to_avro_blocks(bq_blocks_2, avro_schema)
 
@@ -433,7 +431,7 @@ def test_rows_w_reconnect_by_page(class_under_test, mock_client):
     )
 
     reader = class_under_test(
-        _avro_blocks_w_unavailable(avro_blocks_1),
+        _pages_w_unavailable(avro_blocks_1),
         mock_client,
         stream_position,
         {"metadata": {"test-key": "test-value"}},
@@ -680,7 +678,7 @@ def test_to_dataframe_by_page(class_under_test, mock_client):
     )
 
     reader = class_under_test(
-        _avro_blocks_w_unavailable(avro_blocks_1),
+        _pages_w_unavailable(avro_blocks_1),
         mock_client,
         stream_position,
         {"metadata": {"test-key": "test-value"}},
@@ -721,6 +719,80 @@ def test_to_dataframe_by_page(class_under_test, mock_client):
     )
 
 
+def test_to_dataframe_by_page_arrow(class_under_test, mock_client):
+    bq_columns = [
+        {"name": "int_col", "type": "int64"},
+        {"name": "bool_col", "type": "bool"},
+    ]
+    arrow_schema = _bq_to_arrow_schema(bq_columns)
+    read_session = _generate_arrow_read_session(arrow_schema)
+
+    bq_block_1 = [
+        {"int_col": 123, "bool_col": True},
+        {"int_col": 234, "bool_col": False},
+    ]
+    bq_block_2 = [
+        {"int_col": 345, "bool_col": True},
+        {"int_col": 456, "bool_col": False},
+    ]
+    bq_block_3 = [
+        {"int_col": 567, "bool_col": True},
+        {"int_col": 789, "bool_col": False},
+    ]
+    bq_block_4 = [{"int_col": 890, "bool_col": True}]
+    # Break blocks into two groups to test that iteration continues across
+    # reconnection.
+    bq_blocks_1 = [bq_block_1, bq_block_2]
+    bq_blocks_2 = [bq_block_3, bq_block_4]
+    batch_1 = _bq_to_arrow_batches(bq_blocks_1, arrow_schema)
+    batch_2 = _bq_to_arrow_batches(bq_blocks_2, arrow_schema)
+
+    mock_client.read_rows.return_value = batch_2
+
+    reader = class_under_test(
+        _pages_w_unavailable(batch_1),
+        mock_client,
+        bigquery_storage_v1beta1.types.StreamPosition(),
+        {},
+    )
+    got = reader.rows(read_session)
+    pages = iter(got.pages)
+
+    page_1 = next(pages)
+    pandas.testing.assert_frame_equal(
+        page_1.to_dataframe(
+            dtypes={"int_col": "int64", "bool_col": "bool"}
+        ).reset_index(drop=True),
+        pandas.DataFrame(bq_block_1, columns=["int_col", "bool_col"]).reset_index(
+            drop=True
+        ),
+    )
+
+    page_2 = next(pages)
+    pandas.testing.assert_frame_equal(
+        page_2.to_dataframe().reset_index(drop=True),
+        pandas.DataFrame(bq_block_2, columns=["int_col", "bool_col"]).reset_index(
+            drop=True
+        ),
+    )
+
+    page_3 = next(pages)
+    pandas.testing.assert_frame_equal(
+        page_3.to_dataframe().reset_index(drop=True),
+        pandas.DataFrame(bq_block_3, columns=["int_col", "bool_col"]).reset_index(
+            drop=True
+        ),
+    )
+
+    page_4 = next(pages)
+    pandas.testing.assert_frame_equal(
+        page_4.to_dataframe().reset_index(drop=True),
+        pandas.DataFrame(bq_block_4, columns=["int_col", "bool_col"]).reset_index(
+            drop=True
+        ),
+    )
+
+
 def test_copy_stream_position(mut):
     read_position = bigquery_storage_v1beta1.types.StreamPosition(
         stream={"name": "test"}, offset=41