diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Under the Hood-20230319-172824.yaml b/.changes/unreleased/Under the Hood-20230319-172824.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..06722f57ae6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/unreleased/Under the Hood-20230319-172824.yaml	
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+kind: Under the Hood
+body: Improves build times for common selections by improving subgraph calculation
+time: 2023-03-19T17:28:24.321555-07:00
+custom:
+  Author: '@ttusing'
+  Issue: "7195"
diff --git a/core/dbt/graph/graph.py b/core/dbt/graph/graph.py
index 9c20750cd54..b39791b8afa 100644
--- a/core/dbt/graph/graph.py
+++ b/core/dbt/graph/graph.py
@@ -74,8 +74,22 @@ def get_subset_graph(self, selected: Iterable[UniqueId]) -> "Graph":
         new_graph = self.graph.copy()
         include_nodes = set(selected)
 
-        for node in self:
-            if node not in include_nodes:
+        def is_trivial_node(node) -> bool:
+            return (
+                min(new_graph.in_degree(node), new_graph.out_degree(node)) < 1
+                and node not in include_nodes
+            )
+
+        def trim_trivial_nodes():
+            while True:
+                nodes_to_remove = set(node for node in new_graph if is_trivial_node(node))
+                if not nodes_to_remove:
+                    return
+                new_graph.remove_nodes_from(nodes_to_remove)
+
+        def prune_nodes(nodes_to_prune):
+            nodes_to_prune.sort(key=lambda node: new_graph.degree(node))
+            for node in nodes_to_prune:
                 source_nodes = [x for x, _ in new_graph.in_edges(node)]
                 target_nodes = [x for _, x in new_graph.out_edges(node)]
 
@@ -87,6 +101,28 @@ def get_subset_graph(self, selected: Iterable[UniqueId]) -> "Graph":
                 new_graph.add_edges_from(non_cyclic_new_edges)
                 new_graph.remove_node(node)
 
+        # start by trimming trivial nodes from the graph
+        trim_trivial_nodes()
+
+        # sort remaining nodes by degree
+        remaining_prunable_nodes = list(set(new_graph.nodes()) - set(include_nodes))
+
+        # take a chunk of the lowest degree nodes if the list isn't empty and prune them
+        while remaining_prunable_nodes:
+            remaining_prunable_nodes.sort(key=lambda node: new_graph.degree(node))
+            # prune a chunk of the lowest degree nodes. chunk size should be big enough to not
+            # have to re-sort so often, but small enough to get value from switching to pruning to
+            # removing new trivial nodes
+            chunk_size = min(
+                100,
+                len(remaining_prunable_nodes),
+            )
+            nodes_to_prune = remaining_prunable_nodes[:chunk_size]
+            prune_nodes(nodes_to_prune)
+            # trim trivial nodes from the graph
+            trim_trivial_nodes()
+            remaining_prunable_nodes = list(set(new_graph.nodes()) - set(include_nodes))
+
         for node in include_nodes:
             if node not in new_graph:
                 raise ValueError(