diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 14c46557129..75f292dcf3c 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ Brian Maissy
 Brian Okken
 Brianna Laugher
 Bruno Oliveira
+Caitlin Macleod
 Cal Leeming
 Carl Friedrich Bolz
 Carlos Jenkins
@@ -177,6 +178,7 @@ Matt Williams
 Matthias Hafner
 Maxim Filipenko
 mbyt
+Michael Abel
 Michael Aquilina
 Michael Birtwell
 Michael Droettboom
diff --git a/changelog/1120.bugfix.rst b/changelog/1120.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6f04e09462f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/1120.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix issue where directories from ``tmpdir`` are not removed properly when
+multiple instances of pytest are running in parallel.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/pathlib.py b/src/_pytest/pathlib.py
index 8d25b21dd7d..a290b3dfa32 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/pathlib.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/pathlib.py
@@ -296,6 +296,15 @@ def make_numbered_dir_with_cleanup(
 ) -> Path:
     """creates a numbered dir with a cleanup lock and removes old ones"""
     e = None
+    # Register a cleanup for program exit
+    consider_lock_dead_if_created_before = p.stat().st_mtime - lock_timeout
+    atexit.register(
+        cleanup_numbered_dir,
+        root,
+        prefix,
+        keep,
+        consider_lock_dead_if_created_before,
+    )
     for i in range(10):
         try:
             p = make_numbered_dir(root, prefix)
@@ -304,13 +313,6 @@ def make_numbered_dir_with_cleanup(
         except Exception as exc:
             e = exc
         else:
-            consider_lock_dead_if_created_before = p.stat().st_mtime - lock_timeout
-            cleanup_numbered_dir(
-                root=root,
-                prefix=prefix,
-                keep=keep,
-                consider_lock_dead_if_created_before=consider_lock_dead_if_created_before,
-            )
             return p
     assert e is not None
     raise e