diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 28b57cc750190..9f6a5f0c5d9aa 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -34,11 +34,11 @@ matrix:
     include:
     - dist: trusty
       env:
-        - JOB="3.7" ENV_FILE="ci/deps/travis-37.yaml" PATTERN="not slow and not network and not db"
+        - JOB="3.7" ENV_FILE="ci/deps/travis-37.yaml" PATTERN="not slow and not network"
 
     - dist: trusty
       env:
-        - JOB="2.7" ENV_FILE="ci/deps/travis-27.yaml" PATTERN="not slow"
+        - JOB="2.7" ENV_FILE="ci/deps/travis-27.yaml" PATTERN="not slow and db"
       addons:
         apt:
           packages:
@@ -46,11 +46,11 @@ matrix:
 
     - dist: trusty
       env:
-        - JOB="3.6, locale" ENV_FILE="ci/deps/travis-36-locale.yaml" PATTERN="not slow and not network" LOCALE_OVERRIDE="zh_CN.UTF-8"
+        - JOB="3.6, locale" ENV_FILE="ci/deps/travis-36-locale.yaml" PATTERN="not slow and not network and db" LOCALE_OVERRIDE="zh_CN.UTF-8"
 
     - dist: trusty
       env:
-        - JOB="3.6, coverage" ENV_FILE="ci/deps/travis-36.yaml" PATTERN="not slow and not network" PANDAS_TESTING_MODE="deprecate" COVERAGE=true
+        - JOB="3.6, coverage" ENV_FILE="ci/deps/travis-36.yaml" PATTERN="not slow and not network and db" PANDAS_TESTING_MODE="deprecate" COVERAGE=true
 
     # In allow_failures
     - dist: trusty
diff --git a/ci/azure/posix.yml b/ci/azure/posix.yml
index c0c4fb924a605..b9e0cd0b9258c 100644
--- a/ci/azure/posix.yml
+++ b/ci/azure/posix.yml
@@ -12,37 +12,37 @@ jobs:
         py35_np_120:
           ENV_FILE: ci/deps/azure-macos-35.yaml
           CONDA_PY: "35"
-          PATTERN: "not slow and not network and not db"
+          PATTERN: "not slow and not network"
 
       ${{ if eq(parameters.name, 'Linux') }}:
         py27_np_120:
           ENV_FILE: ci/deps/azure-27-compat.yaml
           CONDA_PY: "27"
-          PATTERN: "not slow and not network and not db"
+          PATTERN: "not slow and not network"
 
         py27_locale_slow_old_np:
           ENV_FILE: ci/deps/azure-27-locale.yaml
           CONDA_PY: "27"
-          PATTERN: "slow and not db"
+          PATTERN: "slow"
           LOCALE_OVERRIDE: "zh_CN.UTF-8"
           EXTRA_APT: "language-pack-zh-hans"
 
         py36_locale_slow:
           ENV_FILE: ci/deps/azure-36-locale_slow.yaml
           CONDA_PY: "36"
-          PATTERN: "not slow and not network and not db"
+          PATTERN: "not slow and not network"
           LOCALE_OVERRIDE: "it_IT.UTF-8"
 
         py37_locale:
           ENV_FILE: ci/deps/azure-37-locale.yaml
           CONDA_PY: "37"
-          PATTERN: "not slow and not network and not db"
+          PATTERN: "not slow and not network"
           LOCALE_OVERRIDE: "zh_CN.UTF-8"
 
         py37_np_dev:
           ENV_FILE: ci/deps/azure-37-numpydev.yaml
           CONDA_PY: "37"
-          PATTERN: "not slow and not network and not db"
+          PATTERN: "not slow and not network"
           TEST_ARGS: "-W error"
           PANDAS_TESTING_MODE: "deprecate"
           EXTRA_APT: "xsel"
diff --git a/ci/azure/windows.yml b/ci/azure/windows.yml
index f06b229bb2656..cece002024936 100644
--- a/ci/azure/windows.yml
+++ b/ci/azure/windows.yml
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ jobs:
       displayName: 'Build'
     - script: |
         call activate pandas-dev
-        pytest -m "not slow and not network and not db" --junitxml=test-data.xml pandas -n 2 -r sxX --strict --durations=10 %*
+        pytest -m "not slow and not network" --junitxml=test-data.xml pandas -n 2 -r sxX --strict --durations=10 %*
       displayName: 'Test'
     - task: PublishTestResults@2
       inputs:
diff --git a/pandas/conftest.py b/pandas/conftest.py
index f383fb32810e7..851a779db2159 100644
--- a/pandas/conftest.py
+++ b/pandas/conftest.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import collections
 from datetime import date, time, timedelta
 from decimal import Decimal
 import importlib
@@ -54,14 +55,22 @@ def pytest_runtest_setup(item):
     if 'network' in item.keywords and item.config.getoption("--skip-network"):
         pytest.skip("skipping due to --skip-network")
 
-    if 'db' in item.keywords and item.config.getoption("--skip-db"):
-        pytest.skip("skipping due to --skip-db")
-
     if 'high_memory' in item.keywords and not item.config.getoption(
             "--run-high-memory"):
         pytest.skip(
             "skipping high memory test since --run-high-memory was not set")
 
+    # if "db" not explicitly set in the -m pattern, we skip the db tests
+    if 'db' in item.keywords:
+        pattern = item.config.getoption('-m')
+        markers = collections.defaultdict(bool)
+        for marker in item.iter_markers():
+            markers[marker.name] = True
+        markers['db'] = False
+        db_in_pattern = not eval(pattern, {}, markers)
+        if not db_in_pattern:
+            pytest.skip('skipping db unless -m "db" is specified')
+
 
 # Configurations for all tests and all test modules
 
diff --git a/pandas/util/_tester.py b/pandas/util/_tester.py
index 18e8d415459fd..aad2f00fa0478 100644
--- a/pandas/util/_tester.py
+++ b/pandas/util/_tester.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ def test(extra_args=None):
         import hypothesis  # noqa
     except ImportError:
         raise ImportError("Need hypothesis>=3.58 to run tests")
-    cmd = ['--skip-slow', '--skip-network', '--skip-db']
+    cmd = ['--skip-slow', '--skip-network']
     if extra_args:
         if not isinstance(extra_args, list):
             extra_args = [extra_args]