diff --git a/sqlx-cli/src/prepare.rs b/sqlx-cli/src/prepare.rs
index 9f3fc67da4..f3688add2a 100644
--- a/sqlx-cli/src/prepare.rs
+++ b/sqlx-cli/src/prepare.rs
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ fn run_prepare_step(ctx: &PrepareCtx, cache_dir: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     let tmp_dir = ctx.metadata.target_directory().join("sqlx-tmp");
     fs::create_dir_all(&tmp_dir).context(format!(
         "Failed to create temporary query cache directory: {:?}",
-        cache_dir
+        tmp_dir
     ))?;
 
     // Only delete sqlx-*.json files to avoid accidentally deleting any user data.