diff --git a/google-cloud-bigquery/pom.xml b/google-cloud-bigquery/pom.xml
index c59d4be0d..7928c70d0 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigquery/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-bigquery/pom.xml
@@ -50,6 +50,10 @@
       <groupId>org.checkerframework</groupId>
       <artifactId>checker-qual</artifactId>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.google.auth</groupId>
+      <artifactId>google-auth-library-credentials</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.google.auth</groupId>
       <artifactId>google-auth-library-oauth2-http</artifactId>
diff --git a/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/spi/v2/HttpBigQueryRpc.java b/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/spi/v2/HttpBigQueryRpc.java
index 841a790ee..dca129bfb 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/spi/v2/HttpBigQueryRpc.java
+++ b/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/spi/v2/HttpBigQueryRpc.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 import static java.net.HttpURLConnection.HTTP_CREATED;
 import static java.net.HttpURLConnection.HTTP_NOT_FOUND;
 import static java.net.HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK;
+import static java.net.HttpURLConnection.HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED;
 
 import com.google.api.client.http.ByteArrayContent;
 import com.google.api.client.http.GenericUrl;
@@ -116,7 +117,11 @@ private static BigQueryException translate(IOException exception) {
 
   private void validateRPC() throws BigQueryException, IOException {
     if (!this.options.hasValidUniverseDomain()) {
-      throw new BigQueryException(BigQueryException.UNKNOWN_CODE, "Invalid universe domain");
+      String errorMessage =
+          String.format(
+              "The configured universe domain %s does not match the universe domain found in the credentials %s. If you haven't configured the universe domain explicitly, `googleapis.com` is the default.",
+              this.options.getUniverseDomain(), this.options.getCredentials().getUniverseDomain());
+      throw new BigQueryException(HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED, errorMessage);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/google-cloud-bigquery/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/it/ITBigQueryTest.java b/google-cloud-bigquery/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/it/ITBigQueryTest.java
index ba30ea0d4..eed5a6c61 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigquery/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/it/ITBigQueryTest.java
+++ b/google-cloud-bigquery/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/it/ITBigQueryTest.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 import static com.google.cloud.bigquery.JobStatus.State.DONE;
 import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat;
 import static java.lang.System.currentTimeMillis;
+import static java.net.HttpURLConnection.HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertArrayEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
@@ -6402,8 +6403,12 @@ public void testUniverseDomainWithInvalidUniverseDomain() {
       bigQuery.listDatasets("bigquery-public-data");
       fail("RPCs to invalid universe domain should fail");
     } catch (BigQueryException e) {
+      assertEquals(e.getCode(), HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED);
       assertNotNull(e.getMessage());
-      assertThat((e.getMessage().contains("Invalid universe domain"))).isTrue();
+      assertThat(
+              (e.getMessage()
+                  .contains("does not match the universe domain found in the credentials")))
+          .isTrue();
     }
   }
 
@@ -6423,8 +6428,12 @@ public void testInvalidUniverseDomainWithMismatchCredentials() {
       bigQuery.listDatasets("bigquery-public-data");
       fail("RPCs to invalid universe domain should fail");
     } catch (BigQueryException e) {
+      assertEquals(e.getCode(), HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED);
       assertNotNull(e.getMessage());
-      assertThat((e.getMessage().contains("Invalid universe domain"))).isTrue();
+      assertThat(
+              (e.getMessage()
+                  .contains("does not match the universe domain found in the credentials")))
+          .isTrue();
     }
   }