diff --git a/.changelog/38252.txt b/.changelog/38252.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5c23ea018efb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/38252.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+resource/aws_db_instance: Fix resource leak on error during creation.
+```
diff --git a/internal/service/rds/instance.go b/internal/service/rds/instance.go
index 834de44196d5..c570051ef069 100644
--- a/internal/service/rds/instance.go
+++ b/internal/service/rds/instance.go
@@ -1768,6 +1768,7 @@ func resourceInstanceCreate(ctx context.Context, d *schema.ResourceData, meta in
 	var instance *rds.DBInstance
 	var err error
 	if instance, err = waitDBInstanceAvailableSDKv1(ctx, conn, identifier, d.Timeout(schema.TimeoutCreate)); err != nil {
+		d.SetId(resourceID)
 		return sdkdiag.AppendErrorf(diags, "waiting for RDS DB Instance (%s) create: %s", identifier, err)
 	}