diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 5af15b88f2e3..eb2ebdad571c 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -369,8 +369,14 @@ if (CHPL_HOST_MEM STREQUAL "mimalloc")
     message(FATAL_ERROR "Invalid CHPL_HOST_MIMALLOC value: ${CHPL_HOST_MIMALLOC}")
   endif()
 
-  target_link_libraries(ChplFrontend PRIVATE mimalloc)
-  target_link_libraries(ChplFrontendShared PRIVATE mimalloc)
+  # static linking results in much faster compile times, but casues crashes on Mac
+  if (APPLE)
+    target_link_libraries(ChplFrontend PRIVATE mimalloc)
+    target_link_libraries(ChplFrontendShared PRIVATE mimalloc)
+  else()
+    target_link_libraries(ChplFrontend PRIVATE mimalloc-static)
+    target_link_libraries(ChplFrontendShared PRIVATE mimalloc-static)
+  endif()
 endif()
 
 # Adjust the install rpath for chpl and chpldoc
diff --git a/third-party/mimalloc/Makefile b/third-party/mimalloc/Makefile
index cbe806a80ba1..9477371cb2bd 100644
--- a/third-party/mimalloc/Makefile
+++ b/third-party/mimalloc/Makefile
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ CHPL_MIMALLOC_CFG_OPTIONS += \
 
 # if host, build shared, otherwise just build static
 ifeq ($(strip $(CHPL_MAKE_HOST_TARGET)),--host)
-CHPL_MIMALLOC_CFG_OPTIONS += -DMI_BUILD_SHARED=ON -DMI_BUILD_STATIC=OFF
+CHPL_MIMALLOC_CFG_OPTIONS += -DMI_BUILD_SHARED=ON -DMI_BUILD_STATIC=ON
 else
 CHPL_MIMALLOC_CFG_OPTIONS += -DMI_BUILD_SHARED=OFF -DMI_BUILD_STATIC=ON
 endif