diff --git a/r/tests/testthat/test-python.R b/r/tests/testthat/test-python.R
index cf10579e2de..da1a4336b4a 100644
--- a/r/tests/testthat/test-python.R
+++ b/r/tests/testthat/test-python.R
@@ -24,7 +24,10 @@ test_that("install_pyarrow", {
   skip_if_not_installed("reticulate")
   # PyArrow doesn't support Python 3.6 or earlier
   skip_on_python_older_than("3.7")
-
+  # skip on 10.13 because we do not ship binaries for pyarrow for macos 10.13 anymore
+  on_macos <- tolower(Sys.info()[["sysname"]]) %in% "darwin"
+  skip_if(on_macos && numeric_version(Sys.info()["release"]) < "18.0.0", "No pyarrow binaries are available for macOS 10.13")
+  
   venv <- try(reticulate::virtualenv_create("arrow-test"))
   # Bail out if virtualenv isn't available
   skip_if(inherits(venv, "try-error"))