diff --git a/cpp/src/neighbors/detail/vpq_dataset.cuh b/cpp/src/neighbors/detail/vpq_dataset.cuh
index ec4a684274..774854ad19 100644
--- a/cpp/src/neighbors/detail/vpq_dataset.cuh
+++ b/cpp/src/neighbors/detail/vpq_dataset.cuh
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include <raft/core/resource/cuda_stream_pool.hpp>
 #include <raft/core/resources.hpp>
 #include <raft/linalg/map.cuh>
+#include <raft/stats/mean.cuh>
 #include <raft/util/cudart_utils.hpp>
 #include <raft/util/integer_utils.hpp>
 #include <raft/util/pow2_utils.cuh>
@@ -170,6 +171,7 @@ template <typename MathT, typename DatasetT>
 auto train_vq(const raft::resources& res, const vpq_params& params, const DatasetT& dataset)
   -> raft::device_matrix<MathT, uint32_t, raft::row_major>
 {
+  using kmeans_in_type    = typename DatasetT::value_type;
   const ix_t n_rows       = dataset.extent(0);
   const ix_t vq_n_centers = params.vq_n_centers;
   const ix_t dim          = dataset.extent(1);
@@ -181,16 +183,21 @@ auto train_vq(const raft::resources& res, const vpq_params& params, const Datase
   auto vq_centers =
     raft::make_device_matrix<MathT, uint32_t, raft::row_major>(res, vq_n_centers, dim);
 
-  using kmeans_in_type = typename DatasetT::value_type;
-  cuvs::cluster::kmeans::balanced_params kmeans_params;
-  kmeans_params.n_iters = params.kmeans_n_iters;
-  kmeans_params.metric  = cuvs::distance::DistanceType::L2Expanded;
-  auto vq_centers_view =
-    raft::make_device_matrix_view<MathT, ix_t>(vq_centers.data_handle(), vq_n_centers, dim);
   auto vq_trainset_view = raft::make_device_matrix_view<const kmeans_in_type, ix_t>(
     vq_trainset.data_handle(), n_rows_train, dim);
-  cuvs::cluster::kmeans::fit(res, kmeans_params, vq_trainset_view, vq_centers_view);
 
+  if (vq_n_centers == 1) {
+    auto vq_centers_view =
+      raft::make_device_vector_view<MathT, ix_t>(vq_centers.data_handle(), dim);
+    raft::stats::mean(res, vq_trainset_view, vq_centers_view);
+  } else {
+    auto vq_centers_view =
+      raft::make_device_matrix_view<MathT, ix_t>(vq_centers.data_handle(), vq_n_centers, dim);
+    cuvs::cluster::kmeans::balanced_params kmeans_params;
+    kmeans_params.n_iters = params.kmeans_n_iters;
+    kmeans_params.metric  = cuvs::distance::DistanceType::L2Expanded;
+    cuvs::cluster::kmeans::fit(res, kmeans_params, vq_trainset_view, vq_centers_view);
+  }
   return vq_centers;
 }