diff --git a/cpp/src/parquet/properties.h b/cpp/src/parquet/properties.h
index bdc5b15332d09..9344181d3f82f 100644
--- a/cpp/src/parquet/properties.h
+++ b/cpp/src/parquet/properties.h
@@ -196,7 +196,12 @@ class PARQUET_EXPORT ColumnProperties {
 
   size_t max_statistics_size() const { return max_stats_size_; }
 
-  int compression_level() const { return codec_options_->compression_level; }
+  int compression_level() const {
+    if (!codec_options_) {
+      return ::arrow::util::kUseDefaultCompressionLevel;
+    }
+    return codec_options_->compression_level;
+  }
 
   const std::shared_ptr<CodecOptions>& codec_options() const { return codec_options_; }
 
diff --git a/cpp/src/parquet/properties_test.cc b/cpp/src/parquet/properties_test.cc
index 96c3a63b831eb..30ea67c2766e3 100644
--- a/cpp/src/parquet/properties_test.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/parquet/properties_test.cc
@@ -49,6 +49,13 @@ TEST(TestWriterProperties, Basics) {
   ASSERT_FALSE(props->page_checksum_enabled());
 }
 
+TEST(TestWriterProperties, DefaultCompression) {
+  std::shared_ptr<WriterProperties> props = WriterProperties::Builder().build();
+
+  ASSERT_EQ(props->compression(ColumnPath::FromDotString("any")), Compression::UNCOMPRESSED);
+  ASSERT_EQ(props->compression_level(ColumnPath::FromDotString("any")), ::arrow::util::kUseDefaultCompressionLevel);
+}
+
 TEST(TestWriterProperties, AdvancedHandling) {
   WriterProperties::Builder builder;
   builder.compression("gzip", Compression::GZIP);