diff --git a/.changes/v1.15/ENHANCEMENTS-20260226-102105.yaml b/.changes/v1.15/ENHANCEMENTS-20260226-102105.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..93936a0662
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/v1.15/ENHANCEMENTS-20260226-102105.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+kind: ENHANCEMENTS
+body: 'backend/s3: Improved performance when using workspaces by replacing workspace listing with a direct state file check'
+time: 2026-02-26T10:21:05.578904Z
+custom:
+    Issue: "33137"
diff --git a/internal/backend/remote-state/s3/backend_state.go b/internal/backend/remote-state/s3/backend_state.go
index 35d1481e72..a180781e46 100644
--- a/internal/backend/remote-state/s3/backend_state.go
+++ b/internal/backend/remote-state/s3/backend_state.go
@@ -193,18 +193,10 @@ func (b *Backend) StateMgr(name string) (statemgr.Full, tfdiags.Diagnostics) {
 	// If we need to force-unlock, but for some reason the state no longer
 	// exists, the user will have to use aws tools to manually fix the
 	// situation.
-	existing, wDiags := b.Workspaces()
-	diags = diags.Append(wDiags)
-	if wDiags.HasErrors() {
-		return nil, diags
-	}
-
-	exists := false
-	for _, s := range existing {
-		if s == name {
-			exists = true
-			break
-		}
+	ctx := context.TODO()
+	exists, err := client.Exists(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, diags.Append(err)
 	}
 
 	// We need to create the object so it's listed by States.
diff --git a/internal/backend/remote-state/s3/client.go b/internal/backend/remote-state/s3/client.go
index 66a9db6fe2..88266e9d80 100644
--- a/internal/backend/remote-state/s3/client.go
+++ b/internal/backend/remote-state/s3/client.go
@@ -187,6 +187,31 @@ func (c *RemoteClient) get(ctx context.Context) (*remote.Payload, error) {
 	return payload, nil
 }
 
+func (c *RemoteClient) Exists(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
+	headInput := &s3.HeadObjectInput{
+		Bucket: aws.String(c.bucketName),
+		Key:    aws.String(c.path),
+	}
+	if c.serverSideEncryption && c.customerEncryptionKey != nil {
+		headInput.SSECustomerKey = aws.String(base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(c.customerEncryptionKey))
+		headInput.SSECustomerAlgorithm = aws.String(s3EncryptionAlgorithm)
+		headInput.SSECustomerKeyMD5 = aws.String(c.getSSECustomerKeyMD5())
+	}
+
+	_, err := c.s3Client.HeadObject(ctx, headInput)
+	if err != nil {
+		switch {
+		case IsA[*s3types.NoSuchBucket](err):
+			return false, fmt.Errorf(errS3NoSuchBucket, c.bucketName, err)
+		case IsA[*s3types.NotFound](err):
+			return false, nil
+		}
+		return false, fmt.Errorf("Unable to access object %q in S3 bucket %q: %w", c.path, c.bucketName, err)
+	}
+
+	return true, nil
+}
+
 func (c *RemoteClient) Put(data []byte) tfdiags.Diagnostics {
 	var diags tfdiags.Diagnostics
 	return diags.Append(c.put(data))