diff --git a/doc/api/next_api_changes/behavior/21177-DS.rst b/doc/api/next_api_changes/behavior/21177-DS.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f42f029ef17b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/api/next_api_changes/behavior/21177-DS.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+``LogLocator`` now respects ``numticks``
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The algorithm within `~matplotlib.ticker.LogLocator` has been modified to
+respect the ``numticks`` argument. Whereas previously more ticks than
+``numticks`` could be returned, ``numticks`` is now an upper limit on the
+number of ticks returned.
+
+In some cases, this change results in one more tick being added on a
+log-scaled axis, and correctly adds some ticks to log-scaled errorbar plots
+that were previously missing.
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_axes/auto_numticks_log.png b/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_axes/auto_numticks_log.png
index 7a31434f501f..b9b93d3a116c 100644
Binary files a/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_axes/auto_numticks_log.png and b/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_axes/auto_numticks_log.png differ
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_axes/test_loglog_nonpos.png b/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_axes/test_loglog_nonpos.png
index 5dd4757445fe..75c07c801c04 100644
Binary files a/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_axes/test_loglog_nonpos.png and b/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_axes/test_loglog_nonpos.png differ
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_scale/logscale_nonpos_values.png b/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_scale/logscale_nonpos_values.png
index a7e233e8ecd8..f9f03e692b8d 100644
Binary files a/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_scale/logscale_nonpos_values.png and b/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_scale/logscale_nonpos_values.png differ
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_colorbar.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_colorbar.py
index 6b691713e7e6..575c2df36b4f 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_colorbar.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_colorbar.py
@@ -414,6 +414,7 @@ def test_colorbar_autotickslog():
         x = np.arange(-3.0, 4.001)
         y = np.arange(-4.0, 3.001)
         X, Y = np.meshgrid(x, y)
+        # Z ranges from -12 to 12
         Z = X * Y
         Z = Z[:-1, :-1]
         pcm = ax[0].pcolormesh(X, Y, 10**Z, norm=LogNorm())
@@ -423,12 +424,10 @@ def test_colorbar_autotickslog():
         pcm = ax[1].pcolormesh(X, Y, 10**Z, norm=LogNorm())
         cbar2 = fig.colorbar(pcm, ax=ax[1], extend='both',
                              orientation='vertical', shrink=0.4)
-        # note only -12 to +12 are visible
         np.testing.assert_almost_equal(cbar.ax.yaxis.get_ticklocs(),
-                                       10**np.arange(-16., 16.2, 4.))
-        # note only -24 to +24 are visible
+                                       10**np.arange(-12, 12.01, 4))
         np.testing.assert_almost_equal(cbar2.ax.yaxis.get_ticklocs(),
-                                       10**np.arange(-24., 25., 12.))
+                                       10**np.arange(-12, 12.01, 12))
 
 
 def test_colorbar_get_ticks():
@@ -515,6 +514,7 @@ def test_colorbar_log_minortick_labels():
 
 def test_colorbar_renorm():
     x, y = np.ogrid[-4:4:31j, -4:4:31j]
+    # z ranges from ~1.52e-9 to 1.2e5
     z = 120000*np.exp(-x**2 - y**2)
 
     fig, ax = plt.subplots()
@@ -529,7 +529,7 @@ def test_colorbar_renorm():
     norm = LogNorm(z.min(), z.max())
     im.set_norm(norm)
     np.testing.assert_allclose(cbar.ax.yaxis.get_majorticklocs(),
-                               np.logspace(-10, 7, 18))
+                               np.logspace(-9, 5, 8))
     # note that set_norm removes the FixedLocator...
     assert np.isclose(cbar.vmin, z.min())
     cbar.set_ticks([1, 2, 3])
@@ -564,7 +564,7 @@ def test_colorbar_format():
     im.set_norm(LogNorm(vmin=0.1, vmax=10))
     fig.canvas.draw()
     assert (cbar.ax.yaxis.get_ticklabels()[0].get_text() ==
-            r'$\mathdefault{10^{-2}}$')
+            r'$\mathdefault{10^{-1}}$')
 
 
 def test_colorbar_scale_reset():
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_ticker.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_ticker.py
index d99fd5a306b9..72ecd77174c9 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_ticker.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_ticker.py
@@ -198,13 +198,11 @@ def test_basic(self):
         with pytest.raises(ValueError):
             loc.tick_values(0, 1000)
 
-        test_value = np.array([1.00000000e-05, 1.00000000e-03, 1.00000000e-01,
-                               1.00000000e+01, 1.00000000e+03, 1.00000000e+05,
-                               1.00000000e+07, 1.000000000e+09])
-        assert_almost_equal(loc.tick_values(0.001, 1.1e5), test_value)
+        test_value = np.array([1e-3, 1e-1, 1e1, 1e3, 1e5])
+        assert_almost_equal(loc.tick_values(1e-3, 1e5), test_value)
 
         loc = mticker.LogLocator(base=2)
-        test_value = np.array([0.5, 1., 2., 4., 8., 16., 32., 64., 128., 256.])
+        test_value = np.array([1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128])
         assert_almost_equal(loc.tick_values(1, 100), test_value)
 
     def test_switch_to_autolocator(self):
@@ -1373,5 +1371,35 @@ def test_small_range_loglocator(numticks):
     ll = mticker.LogLocator()
     ll.set_params(numticks=numticks)
     for top in [5, 7, 9, 11, 15, 50, 100, 1000]:
-        ticks = ll.tick_values(.5, top)
-        assert (np.diff(np.log10(ll.tick_values(6, 150))) == 1).all()
+        ticks = ll.tick_values(0.5, top)
+        assert len(ticks) > 1
+
+
+# Test vmin/vmax both on and off an exact decade
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('vmin', [0.1, 0.2])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('vmax', [100, 110])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('numticks', np.arange(2, 11))
+def test_loglocator_numticks(numticks, vmin, vmax):
+    ll = mticker.LogLocator(numticks=numticks)
+    assert len(ll.tick_values(vmin, vmax)) <= numticks
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('base', [2, 5, 10, 3.8])
+def test_loglocator_bases(base):
+    ll = mticker.LogLocator(base=base, numticks=2)
+    vmin, vmax = base**1, base**2
+    # Ticks should be exactly on a decade
+    np.testing.assert_equal(ll.tick_values(vmin, vmax),
+                            [base**1, base**2])
+    # Ticks should extend to cover whole range of values
+    np.testing.assert_equal(ll.tick_values(vmin - 1, vmax + 1),
+                            [base**0, base**3])
+    # Even if the range is less than a decade,
+    # we should always get two ticks back
+    #
+    # Range falls within two decades
+    np.testing.assert_equal(ll.tick_values(vmin + 1, vmax - 1),
+                            [base**1, base**2])
+    # Range falls across a decade
+    np.testing.assert_equal(ll.tick_values(vmin - 1, vmin + 1),
+                            [base**0, base**2])
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/ticker.py b/lib/matplotlib/ticker.py
index 6d8fa5419bbf..67b06e2184f6 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/ticker.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/ticker.py
@@ -2292,6 +2292,14 @@ def __call__(self):
         return self.tick_values(vmin, vmax)
 
     def tick_values(self, vmin, vmax):
+        """
+        Return tick locations.
+
+        Notes
+        -----
+        If vmin/vmax are not exactly on a decade, a single tick lower/higher
+        than vmin/vmax can be returned.
+        """
         if self.numticks == 'auto':
             if self.axis is not None:
                 numticks = np.clip(self.axis.get_tick_space(), 2, 9)
@@ -2322,10 +2330,11 @@ def tick_values(self, vmin, vmax):
 
         if vmax < vmin:
             vmin, vmax = vmax, vmin
-        log_vmin = math.log(vmin) / math.log(b)
-        log_vmax = math.log(vmax) / math.log(b)
+        log_vmin = np.log10(vmin) / np.log10(b)
+        log_vmax = np.log10(vmax) / np.log10(b)
 
-        numdec = math.floor(log_vmax) - math.ceil(log_vmin)
+        # Number of decades fully containing range [vmin, vmax]
+        numdec = math.ceil(log_vmax) - math.floor(log_vmin)
 
         if isinstance(self._subs, str):
             _first = 2.0 if self._subs == 'auto' else 1.0
@@ -2342,22 +2351,15 @@ def tick_values(self, vmin, vmax):
         # Get decades between major ticks.
         stride = (max(math.ceil(numdec / (numticks - 1)), 1)
                   if mpl.rcParams['_internal.classic_mode'] else
-                  (numdec + 1) // numticks + 1)
-
-        # if we have decided that the stride is as big or bigger than
-        # the range, clip the stride back to the available range - 1
-        # with a floor of 1.  This prevents getting axis with only 1 tick
-        # visible.
-        if stride >= numdec:
-            stride = max(1, numdec - 1)
+                  max(numdec // numticks, 1))
 
         # Does subs include anything other than 1?  Essentially a hack to know
         # whether we're a major or a minor locator.
         have_subs = len(subs) > 1 or (len(subs) == 1 and subs[0] != 1.0)
 
-        decades = np.arange(math.floor(log_vmin) - stride,
-                            math.ceil(log_vmax) + 2 * stride, stride)
-
+        decades = np.arange(math.floor(log_vmin),
+                            math.ceil(log_vmax) + 1,
+                            stride)
         if hasattr(self, '_transform'):
             ticklocs = self._transform.inverted().transform(decades)
             if have_subs:
@@ -2368,7 +2370,7 @@ def tick_values(self, vmin, vmax):
                     ticklocs = np.array([])
         else:
             if have_subs:
-                if stride == 1:
+                if stride == 1 and len(decades):
                     ticklocs = np.concatenate(
                         [subs * decade_start for decade_start in b ** decades])
                 else: