diff --git a/command/output.go b/command/output.go
index 090f320c6..789be53a4 100644
--- a/command/output.go
+++ b/command/output.go
@@ -28,11 +28,11 @@ func (c *OutputCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 		return 1
 	}
 
-	var module string
+	var module, statePath string
 	var jsonOutput bool
 	cmdFlags := c.Meta.defaultFlagSet("output")
 	cmdFlags.BoolVar(&jsonOutput, "json", false, "json")
-	cmdFlags.StringVar(&c.Meta.statePath, "state", DefaultStateFilename, "path")
+	cmdFlags.StringVar(&statePath, "state", "", "path")
 	cmdFlags.StringVar(&module, "module", "", "module")
 	cmdFlags.Usage = func() { c.Ui.Error(c.Help()) }
 	if err := cmdFlags.Parse(args); err != nil {
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ func (c *OutputCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 		name = args[0]
 	}
 
+	if statePath != "" {
+		c.Meta.statePath = statePath
+	}
+
 	var diags tfdiags.Diagnostics
 
 	// Load the backend