diff --git a/api/api.go b/api/api.go
index 87aa45ec751..bacb7c3c9ef 100644
--- a/api/api.go
+++ b/api/api.go
@@ -453,8 +453,8 @@ func (c *Client) getNodeClientImpl(nodeID string, timeout time.Duration, q *Quer
 		// If the client is configured for a particular region use that
 		region = c.config.Region
 	default:
-		// No region information is given so use the default.
-		region = "global"
+		// No region information is given so use GlobalRegion as the default.
+		region = GlobalRegion
 	}
 
 	// Get an API client for the node
diff --git a/api/jobs.go b/api/jobs.go
index 901b41e7f17..9964990235c 100644
--- a/api/jobs.go
+++ b/api/jobs.go
@@ -25,6 +25,13 @@ const (
 
 	// DefaultNamespace is the default namespace.
 	DefaultNamespace = "default"
+
+	// For Job configuration, GlobalRegion is a sentinel region value
+	// that users may specify to indicate the job should be run on
+	// the region of the node that the job was submitted to.
+	// For Client configuration, if no region information is given,
+	// the client node will default to be part of the GlobalRegion.
+	GlobalRegion = "global"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -704,7 +711,7 @@ func (j *Job) Canonicalize() {
 		j.Stop = boolToPtr(false)
 	}
 	if j.Region == nil {
-		j.Region = stringToPtr("global")
+		j.Region = stringToPtr(GlobalRegion)
 	}
 	if j.Namespace == nil {
 		j.Namespace = stringToPtr("default")
diff --git a/command/agent/job_endpoint.go b/command/agent/job_endpoint.go
index a42ce63de9f..6353c51e2c2 100644
--- a/command/agent/job_endpoint.go
+++ b/command/agent/job_endpoint.go
@@ -141,12 +141,16 @@ func (s *HTTPServer) jobPlan(resp http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request,
 		return nil, CodedError(400, "Job ID does not match")
 	}
 
-	// Http region takes precedence over hcl region
+	// Region in http request query param takes precedence over region in job hcl config
 	if args.WriteRequest.Region != "" {
 		args.Job.Region = helper.StringToPtr(args.WriteRequest.Region)
 	}
+	// If 'global' region is specified or if no region is given,
+	// default to region of the node you're submitting to
+	if args.Job.Region == nil || *args.Job.Region == "" || *args.Job.Region == api.GlobalRegion {
+		args.Job.Region = &s.agent.config.Region
+	}
 
-	// If no region given, region is canonicalized to 'global'
 	sJob := ApiJobToStructJob(args.Job)
 
 	planReq := structs.JobPlanRequest{
@@ -157,6 +161,8 @@ func (s *HTTPServer) jobPlan(resp http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request,
 			Region: sJob.Region,
 		},
 	}
+	// parseWriteRequest overrides Namespace, Region and AuthToken
+	// based on values from the original http request
 	s.parseWriteRequest(req, &planReq.WriteRequest)
 	planReq.Namespace = sJob.Namespace
 
@@ -384,12 +390,16 @@ func (s *HTTPServer) jobUpdate(resp http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request,
 		return nil, CodedError(400, "Job ID does not match name")
 	}
 
-	// Http region takes precedence over hcl region
+	// Region in http request query param takes precedence over region in job hcl config
 	if args.WriteRequest.Region != "" {
 		args.Job.Region = helper.StringToPtr(args.WriteRequest.Region)
 	}
+	// If 'global' region is specified or if no region is given,
+	// default to region of the node you're submitting to
+	if args.Job.Region == nil || *args.Job.Region == "" || *args.Job.Region == api.GlobalRegion {
+		args.Job.Region = &s.agent.config.Region
+	}
 
-	// If no region given, region is canonicalized to 'global'
 	sJob := ApiJobToStructJob(args.Job)
 
 	regReq := structs.JobRegisterRequest{
@@ -402,6 +412,8 @@ func (s *HTTPServer) jobUpdate(resp http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request,
 			AuthToken: args.WriteRequest.SecretID,
 		},
 	}
+	// parseWriteRequest overrides Namespace, Region and AuthToken
+	// based on values from the original http request
 	s.parseWriteRequest(req, &regReq.WriteRequest)
 	regReq.Namespace = sJob.Namespace
 
diff --git a/command/agent/job_endpoint_test.go b/command/agent/job_endpoint_test.go
index ba2912bbcb9..fdc2f4a1282 100644
--- a/command/agent/job_endpoint_test.go
+++ b/command/agent/job_endpoint_test.go
@@ -493,11 +493,17 @@ func TestHTTP_JobUpdateRegion(t *testing.T) {
 			ExpectedRegion: "north-america",
 		},
 		{
-			Name:           "falls back to default if no region is provided",
+			Name:           "defaults to node region global if no region is provided",
 			ConfigRegion:   "",
 			APIRegion:      "",
 			ExpectedRegion: "global",
 		},
+		{
+			Name:           "defaults to node region not-global if no region is provided",
+			ConfigRegion:   "",
+			APIRegion:      "",
+			ExpectedRegion: "not-global",
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range cases {