diff --git a/detect_secrets/core/baseline.py b/detect_secrets/core/baseline.py
index d75bb873a..f71a821c1 100644
--- a/detect_secrets/core/baseline.py
+++ b/detect_secrets/core/baseline.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 from typing import cast
 from typing import Dict
 from typing import List
+from typing import Optional
 from typing import Union
 
 from . import upgrades
@@ -18,16 +19,22 @@
 from .secrets_collection import SecretsCollection
 
 
-def create(*paths: str, should_scan_all_files: bool = False, root: str = '') -> SecretsCollection:
+def create(
+    *paths: str,
+    should_scan_all_files: bool = False,
+    root: str = '',
+    num_processors: Optional[int] = None,
+) -> SecretsCollection:
     """Scans all the files recursively in path to initialize a baseline."""
-    secrets = SecretsCollection(root=root)
+    kwargs = {}
+    if num_processors:
+        kwargs['num_processors'] = num_processors
 
-    for filename in get_files_to_scan(
-        *paths,
-        should_scan_all_files=should_scan_all_files,
-        root=root,
-    ):
-        secrets.scan_file(filename)
+    secrets = SecretsCollection(root=root)
+    secrets.scan_files(
+        *get_files_to_scan(*paths, should_scan_all_files=should_scan_all_files, root=root),
+        **kwargs,
+    )
 
     return secrets
 
diff --git a/detect_secrets/core/secrets_collection.py b/detect_secrets/core/secrets_collection.py
index e30410d50..4e16a3752 100644
--- a/detect_secrets/core/secrets_collection.py
+++ b/detect_secrets/core/secrets_collection.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import multiprocessing as mp
 import os
 from collections import defaultdict
 from typing import Any
@@ -45,6 +46,23 @@ def load_from_baseline(cls, baseline: Dict[str, Any]) -> 'SecretsCollection':
     def files(self) -> Set[str]:
         return set(self.data.keys())
 
+    def scan_files(self, *filenames: str, num_processors: Optional[int] = None) -> None:
+        """Just like scan_file, but optimized through parallel processing."""
+        if len(filenames) == 1:
+            self.scan_file(filenames[0])
+            return
+
+        if not num_processors:
+            num_processors = mp.cpu_count()
+
+        with mp.Pool(processes=num_processors) as p:
+            for secrets in p.imap_unordered(
+                _scan_file_and_serialize,
+                [os.path.join(self.root, filename) for filename in filenames],
+            ):
+                for secret in secrets:
+                    self[os.path.relpath(secret.filename, self.root)].add(secret)
+
     def scan_file(self, filename: str) -> None:
         for secret in scan.scan_file(os.path.join(self.root, filename)):
             self[filename].add(secret)
@@ -269,3 +287,8 @@ def __sub__(self, other: Any) -> 'SecretsCollection':
             output[filename] = self[filename]
 
         return output
+
+
+def _scan_file_and_serialize(filename: str) -> List[PotentialSecret]:
+    """Used for multiprocessing, since lambdas can't be serialized."""
+    return list(scan.scan_file(filename))
diff --git a/detect_secrets/core/usage/__init__.py b/detect_secrets/core/usage/__init__.py
index 50ac3eada..ea7fee8ba 100644
--- a/detect_secrets/core/usage/__init__.py
+++ b/detect_secrets/core/usage/__init__.py
@@ -47,6 +47,18 @@ def add_default_options(self) -> 'ParserBuilder':
                 'working directory.'
             ),
         )
+        self._parser.add_argument(
+            '-c',
+            '--cores',
+            dest='num_cores',
+            nargs=1,
+            type=int,
+            default=[None],
+            help=(
+                'Specify the number of cores to use for parallel processing. Defaults to '
+                'using the max cores on the current host.'
+            ),
+        )
 
         return self
 
@@ -161,6 +173,8 @@ def parse_args(self, argv: Optional[List[str]] = None) -> argparse.Namespace:
             if args.path == ['.']:
                 args.path = [args.custom_root]
 
+        args.num_cores = args.num_cores[0]
+
         return args
 
 
diff --git a/detect_secrets/main.py b/detect_secrets/main.py
index ee4fb75e7..5040ef558 100644
--- a/detect_secrets/main.py
+++ b/detect_secrets/main.py
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ def handle_scan_action(args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
         *args.path,
         should_scan_all_files=args.all_files,
         root=args.custom_root,
+        num_processors=args.num_cores,
     )
     if args.baseline is not None:
         # The pre-commit hook's baseline upgrade is to trim the supplied baseline for non-existent