diff --git a/meson.options b/meson.options
index ef5a669dd..022727858 100644
--- a/meson.options
+++ b/meson.options
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ option('store-dir', type : 'string', value : '/nix/store',
   description : 'path of the Nix store',
 )
 
-option('state-dir', type : 'string', value : '/nix/var/nix',
+option('state-dir', type : 'string', value : '/nix/var',
   description : 'path to store state in for Nix',
 )
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/meson.build b/src/libstore/meson.build
index 7e1c8d548..3fa9f52b7 100644
--- a/src/libstore/meson.build
+++ b/src/libstore/meson.build
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ cpp_str_defines = {
   'NIX_PREFIX':    prefix,
   'NIX_STORE_DIR': store_dir,
   'NIX_DATA_DIR':  datadir,
-  'NIX_STATE_DIR': state_dir,
+  'NIX_STATE_DIR': state_dir / 'nix',
   'NIX_LOG_DIR':   log_dir,
   'NIX_CONF_DIR':  sysconfdir,
   'NIX_BIN_DIR':   bindir,