diff --git a/src/cmd/flux-account-priority-update.py b/src/cmd/flux-account-priority-update.py
index 5f605104..fba29cbc 100755
--- a/src/cmd/flux-account-priority-update.py
+++ b/src/cmd/flux-account-priority-update.py
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ def bulk_update(path):
     for row in cur.execute(
         """SELECT userid, bank, default_bank,
            fairshare, max_running_jobs, max_active_jobs,
-           queues, active, projects, default_project, max_nodes
+           queues, active, projects, default_project, max_nodes, max_cores
            FROM association_table"""
     ):
         # create a JSON payload with the results of the query
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ def bulk_update(path):
             "projects": str(row[8]),
             "def_project": str(row[9]),
             "max_nodes": int(row[10]),
+            "max_cores": int(row[11]),
         }
         bulk_user_data.append(single_user_data)
 
@@ -159,6 +160,7 @@ def send_instance_owner_info():
         "projects": "*",
         "def_project": "*",
         "max_nodes": 1000000,
+        "max_cores": 1000000,
     }
 
     flux.Flux().rpc(
diff --git a/src/plugins/accounting.cpp b/src/plugins/accounting.cpp
index 7a02638c..7b463a74 100644
--- a/src/plugins/accounting.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/accounting.cpp
@@ -85,8 +85,8 @@ json_t* Association::to_json () const
     }
 
     // 'o' steals the reference for both held_job_ids and user_queues
-    json_t *u = json_pack ("{s:s, s:f, s:i, s:i, s:i, s:i,"
-                           " s:o, s:o, s:i, s:o, s:s, s:i, s:i}",
+    json_t *u = json_pack ("{s:s, s:f, s:i, s:i, s:i, s:i, s:o,"
+                           " s:o, s:i, s:o, s:s, s:i, s:i, s:i}",
                            "bank_name", bank_name.c_str (),
                            "fairshare", fairshare,
                            "max_run_jobs", max_run_jobs,
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ json_t* Association::to_json () const
                            "projects", user_projects,
                            "def_project", def_project.c_str (),
                            "max_nodes", max_nodes,
+                           "max_cores", max_cores,
                            "active", active);
 
     if (!u)
diff --git a/src/plugins/accounting.hpp b/src/plugins/accounting.hpp
index 4cbec507..f83884db 100644
--- a/src/plugins/accounting.hpp
+++ b/src/plugins/accounting.hpp
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ class Association {
     std::vector<std::string> projects; // list of accessible projects
     std::string def_project;           // default project
     int max_nodes;                     // max num nodes across all running jobs
+    int max_cores;                     // max num cores across all running jobs
 
     // methods
     json_t* to_json () const;    // convert object to JSON string
diff --git a/src/plugins/mf_priority.cpp b/src/plugins/mf_priority.cpp
index e1825d04..36b5853c 100644
--- a/src/plugins/mf_priority.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/mf_priority.cpp
@@ -187,6 +187,7 @@ static void add_special_association (flux_plugin_t *p, flux_t *h, int userid)
     a->active = 1;
     a->held_jobs = std::vector<long int>();
     a->max_nodes = INT16_MAX;
+    a->max_cores = INT16_MAX;
 
     if (flux_jobtap_job_aux_set (p,
                                  FLUX_JOBTAP_CURRENT_JOB,
@@ -277,7 +278,7 @@ static void rec_update_cb (flux_t *h,
                            void *arg)
 {
     char *bank, *def_bank, *assoc_queues, *assoc_projects, *def_project = NULL;
-    int uid, max_running_jobs, max_active_jobs, max_nodes = 0;
+    int uid, max_running_jobs, max_active_jobs, max_nodes, max_cores = 0;
     double fshare = 0.0;
     json_t *data, *jtemp = NULL;
     json_error_t error;
@@ -301,7 +302,7 @@ static void rec_update_cb (flux_t *h,
 
         if (json_unpack_ex (el, &error, 0,
                             "{s:i, s:s, s:s, s:F, s:i,"
-                            " s:i, s:s, s:i, s:s, s:s, s:i}",
+                            " s:i, s:s, s:i, s:s, s:s, s:i, s:i}",
                             "userid", &uid,
                             "bank", &bank,
                             "def_bank", &def_bank,
@@ -312,7 +313,8 @@ static void rec_update_cb (flux_t *h,
                             "active", &active,
                             "projects", &assoc_projects,
                             "def_project", &def_project,
-                            "max_nodes", &max_nodes) < 0)
+                            "max_nodes", &max_nodes,
+                            "max_cores", &max_cores) < 0)
             flux_log (h, LOG_ERR, "mf_priority unpack: %s", error.text);
 
         Association *b;
@@ -325,6 +327,7 @@ static void rec_update_cb (flux_t *h,
         b->active = active;
         b->def_project = def_project;
         b->max_nodes = max_nodes;
+        b->max_cores = max_cores;
 
         // split queues comma-delimited string and add it to b->queues vector
         b->queues.clear ();
diff --git a/src/plugins/test/accounting_test01.cpp b/src/plugins/test/accounting_test01.cpp
index 5d56b65d..b444b184 100644
--- a/src/plugins/test/accounting_test01.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/test/accounting_test01.cpp
@@ -55,7 +55,8 @@ void add_user_to_map (
         a.active,
         a.projects,
         a.def_project,
-        a.max_nodes
+        a.max_nodes,
+        a.max_cores
     };
 }
 
@@ -67,9 +68,9 @@ void initialize_map (
     std::map<int, std::map<std::string, Association>> &users)
 {
     Association user1 = {"bank_A", 0.5, 5, 0, 7, 0, {},
-                         {}, 0, 1, {"*"}, "*", 2147483647};
+                         {}, 0, 1, {"*"}, "*", 2147483647, 2147483647};
     Association user2 = {"bank_A", 0.5, 5, 0, 7, 0, {},
-                         {}, 0, 1, {"*"}, "*", 2147483647};
+                         {}, 0, 1, {"*"}, "*", 2147483647, 2147483647};
 
     add_user_to_map (users, 1001, "bank_A", user1);
     users_def_bank[1001] = "bank_A";
@@ -271,7 +272,7 @@ static void test_check_map_dne_true ()
     users_def_bank.clear ();
 
     Association tmp_user = {"DNE", 0.5, 5, 0, 7, 0, {},
-                            {}, 0, 1, {"*"}, "*", 2147483647};
+                            {}, 0, 1, {"*"}, "*", 2147483647, 2147483647};
     add_user_to_map (users, 9999, "DNE", tmp_user);
     users_def_bank[9999] = "DNE";