diff --git a/state/local.go b/state/local.go
index e1129ebbe0..b34d048376 100644
--- a/state/local.go
+++ b/state/local.go
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ type LocalState struct {
 
 	// the file handle corresponding to PathOut
 	stateFileOut *os.File
+	// created is set to tru if stateFileOut didn't exist before we created it.
+	// This is mostly so we can clean up emtpy files during tests, but doesn't
+	// hurt to remove file we never wrote to.
+	created bool
 
 	state     *terraform.State
 	readState *terraform.State
@@ -75,8 +79,26 @@ func (s *LocalState) Lock(reason string) error {
 }
 
 func (s *LocalState) Unlock() error {
+	// we can't be locked if we don't have a file
+	if s.stateFileOut == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	os.Remove(s.lockInfoPath())
-	return s.unlock()
+
+	fileName := s.stateFileOut.Name()
+
+	unlockErr := s.unlock()
+	s.stateFileOut.Close()
+	s.stateFileOut = nil
+
+	// clean up the state file if we created it an never wrote to it
+	stat, err := os.Stat(fileName)
+	if err == nil && stat.Size() == 0 && s.created {
+		os.Remove(fileName)
+	}
+
+	return unlockErr
 }
 
 // Open the state file, creating the directories and file as needed.
@@ -85,28 +107,25 @@ func (s *LocalState) createStateFiles() error {
 		s.PathOut = s.Path
 	}
 
-	f, err := createFileAndDirs(s.PathOut)
+	// yes this could race, but we only use it to clean up empty files
+	if _, err := os.Stat(s.PathOut); os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		s.created = true
+	}
+
+	// Create all the directories
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(s.PathOut), 0755); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	f, err := os.OpenFile(s.PathOut, os.O_RDWR|os.O_CREATE, 0666)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+
 	s.stateFileOut = f
 	return nil
 }
 
-func createFileAndDirs(path string) (*os.File, error) {
-	// Create all the directories
-	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(path), 0755); err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	f, err := os.OpenFile(path, os.O_RDWR|os.O_CREATE, 0666)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	return f, nil
-}
-
 // WriteState for LocalState always persists the state as well.
 // TODO: this should use a more robust method of writing state, by first
 // writing to a temp file on the same filesystem, and renaming the file over