diff --git a/distributed/comm/tests/test_ucx.py b/distributed/comm/tests/test_ucx.py
index 185e4e1a0fd..04d4cd1833f 100644
--- a/distributed/comm/tests/test_ucx.py
+++ b/distributed/comm/tests/test_ucx.py
@@ -323,7 +323,9 @@ async def test_stress(
 async def test_simple(
     ucx_loop,
 ):
-    async with LocalCluster(protocol="ucx", asynchronous=True) as cluster:
+    async with LocalCluster(
+        protocol="ucx", n_workers=2, threads_per_worker=2, asynchronous=True
+    ) as cluster:
         async with Client(cluster, asynchronous=True) as client:
             assert cluster.scheduler_address.startswith("ucx://")
             assert await client.submit(lambda x: x + 1, 10) == 11
@@ -371,7 +373,9 @@ async def test_transpose(
 ):
     da = pytest.importorskip("dask.array")
 
-    async with LocalCluster(protocol="ucx", asynchronous=True) as cluster:
+    async with LocalCluster(
+        protocol="ucx", n_workers=2, threads_per_worker=2, asynchronous=True
+    ) as cluster:
         async with Client(cluster, asynchronous=True):
             assert cluster.scheduler_address.startswith("ucx://")
             x = da.ones((10000, 10000), chunks=(1000, 1000)).persist()
diff --git a/distributed/comm/tests/test_ucx_config.py b/distributed/comm/tests/test_ucx_config.py
index ef594a12009..3dd3b1efe9c 100644
--- a/distributed/comm/tests/test_ucx_config.py
+++ b/distributed/comm/tests/test_ucx_config.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 from distributed import Client
 from distributed.comm.ucx import _prepare_ucx_config
-from distributed.utils import get_ip
+from distributed.utils import get_ip, open_port
 from distributed.utils_test import gen_test, popen
 
 try:
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ def test_ucx_config_w_env_var(ucx_loop, cleanup, loop):
     env = os.environ.copy()
     env["DASK_RMM__POOL_SIZE"] = "1000.00 MB"
 
-    port = "13339"
+    port = str(open_port())
     # Using localhost appears to be less flaky than {HOST}. Additionally, this is
     # closer to how other dask worker tests are written.
     sched_addr = f"ucx://127.0.0.1:{port}"