diff --git a/net/netcheck/netcheck.go b/net/netcheck/netcheck.go
index db50aac6d..9398a1c2c 100644
--- a/net/netcheck/netcheck.go
+++ b/net/netcheck/netcheck.go
@@ -305,6 +305,9 @@ type probePlan map[string][]probe
 func sortRegions(dm *tailcfg.DERPMap, last *Report) (prev []*tailcfg.DERPRegion) {
 	prev = make([]*tailcfg.DERPRegion, 0, len(dm.Regions))
 	for _, reg := range dm.Regions {
+		if reg.Avoid {
+			continue
+		}
 		prev = append(prev, reg)
 	}
 	sort.Slice(prev, func(i, j int) bool {
diff --git a/tailcfg/derpmap.go b/tailcfg/derpmap.go
index 832358b91..6abc63695 100644
--- a/tailcfg/derpmap.go
+++ b/tailcfg/derpmap.go
@@ -55,6 +55,12 @@ type DERPRegion struct {
 	// "San Francisco", "Singapore", "Frankfurt", etc.
 	RegionName string
 
+	// Avoid is whether the client should avoid picking this as its home
+	// region. The region should only be used if a peer is there.
+	// Clients already using this region as their home should migrate
+	// away to a new region without Avoid set.
+	Avoid bool `json:",omitempty"`
+
 	// Nodes are the DERP nodes running in this region, in
 	// priority order for the current client. Client TLS
 	// connections should ideally only go to the first entry