diff --git a/lib/libpfctl/libpfctl.h b/lib/libpfctl/libpfctl.h
--- a/lib/libpfctl/libpfctl.h
+++ b/lib/libpfctl/libpfctl.h
@@ -188,5 +188,6 @@
 int	pfctl_add_rule(int dev, const struct pfctl_rule *r,
 	    const char *anchor, const char *anchor_call, u_int32_t ticket,
 	    u_int32_t pool_ticket);
+int	pfctl_set_keepcounters(int dev, bool keep);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/lib/libpfctl/libpfctl.c b/lib/libpfctl/libpfctl.c
--- a/lib/libpfctl/libpfctl.c
+++ b/lib/libpfctl/libpfctl.c
@@ -569,3 +569,25 @@
 
 	return (0);
 }
+
+int
+pfctl_set_keepcounters(int dev, bool keep)
+{
+	struct pfioc_nv	 nv;
+	nvlist_t	*nvl;
+	int		 ret;
+
+	nvl = nvlist_create(0);
+
+	nvlist_add_bool(nvl, "keep_counters", keep);
+
+	nv.data = nvlist_pack(nvl, &nv.len);
+	nv.size = nv.len;
+
+	nvlist_destroy(nvl);
+
+	ret = ioctl(dev, DIOCKEEPCOUNTERS, &nv);
+
+	free(nv.data);
+	return (ret);
+}
diff --git a/sbin/pfctl/parse.y b/sbin/pfctl/parse.y
--- a/sbin/pfctl/parse.y
+++ b/sbin/pfctl/parse.y
@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@
 %token	REASSEMBLE FRAGDROP FRAGCROP ANCHOR NATANCHOR RDRANCHOR BINATANCHOR
 %token	SET OPTIMIZATION TIMEOUT LIMIT LOGINTERFACE BLOCKPOLICY FAILPOLICY
 %token	RANDOMID REQUIREORDER SYNPROXY FINGERPRINTS NOSYNC DEBUG SKIP HOSTID
-%token	ANTISPOOF FOR INCLUDE
+%token	ANTISPOOF FOR INCLUDE KEEPCOUNTERS
 %token	BITMASK RANDOM SOURCEHASH ROUNDROBIN STATICPORT PROBABILITY MAPEPORTSET
 %token	ALTQ CBQ CODEL PRIQ HFSC FAIRQ BANDWIDTH TBRSIZE LINKSHARE REALTIME
 %token	UPPERLIMIT QUEUE PRIORITY QLIMIT HOGS BUCKETS RTABLE TARGET INTERVAL
@@ -719,6 +719,9 @@
 			}
 			keep_state_defaults = $3;
 		}
+		| SET KEEPCOUNTERS {
+			pf->keep_counters = true;
+		}
 		;
 
 stringall	: STRING	{ $$ = $1; }
@@ -5593,6 +5596,7 @@
 		{ "inet6",		INET6},
 		{ "interval",		INTERVAL},
 		{ "keep",		KEEP},
+		{ "keepcounters",	KEEPCOUNTERS},
 		{ "label",		LABEL},
 		{ "limit",		LIMIT},
 		{ "linkshare",		LINKSHARE},
diff --git a/sbin/pfctl/pfctl.c b/sbin/pfctl/pfctl.c
--- a/sbin/pfctl/pfctl.c
+++ b/sbin/pfctl/pfctl.c
@@ -1745,6 +1745,10 @@
 		if (pfctl_load_hostid(pf, pf->hostid))
 			error = 1;
 
+	/* load keepcounters */
+	if (pfctl_set_keepcounters(pf->dev, pf->keep_counters))
+		error = 1;
+
 	return (error);
 }
 
diff --git a/sbin/pfctl/pfctl_parser.h b/sbin/pfctl/pfctl_parser.h
--- a/sbin/pfctl/pfctl_parser.h
+++ b/sbin/pfctl/pfctl_parser.h
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@
 	u_int32_t	 debug;
 	u_int32_t	 hostid;
 	char		*ifname;
+	bool		 keep_counters;
 
 	u_int8_t	 timeout_set[PFTM_MAX];
 	u_int8_t	 limit_set[PF_LIMIT_MAX];
diff --git a/share/man/man5/pf.conf.5 b/share/man/man5/pf.conf.5
--- a/share/man/man5/pf.conf.5
+++ b/share/man/man5/pf.conf.5
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 .\" ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
 .\" POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 .\"
-.Dd December 7, 2019
+.Dd April 19, 2021
 .Dt PF.CONF 5
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -618,6 +618,13 @@
 .It Ar loud
 Generate debug messages for common conditions.
 .El
+.It Ar set keepcounters
+Preserve rule counters across rule updates.
+Usually rule counters are reset to zero on every update of the ruleset.
+With
+.Ar keepcounters
+set pf will attempt to find matching rules between old and new rulesets
+and preserve the rule counters.
 .El
 .Sh TRAFFIC NORMALIZATION
 Traffic normalization is used to sanitize packet content in such
@@ -2888,7 +2895,8 @@
                  [ "require-order" ( "yes" | "no" ) ]
                  [ "fingerprints" filename ] |
                  [ "skip on" ifspec ] |
-                 [ "debug" ( "none" | "urgent" | "misc" | "loud" ) ] )
+                 [ "debug" ( "none" | "urgent" | "misc" | "loud" ) ]
+                 [ "keepcounters" ] )
 
 pf-rule        = action [ ( "in" | "out" ) ]
                  [ "log" [ "(" logopts ")"] ] [ "quick" ]
diff --git a/sys/net/pfvar.h b/sys/net/pfvar.h
--- a/sys/net/pfvar.h
+++ b/sys/net/pfvar.h
@@ -996,6 +996,7 @@
 	uint32_t	hostid;
 	char		ifname[IFNAMSIZ];
 	uint8_t		pf_chksum[PF_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH];
+	bool		keep_counters;
 };
 
 struct pf_divert {
@@ -1304,6 +1305,8 @@
 #define	DIOCSETIFFLAG	_IOWR('D', 89, struct pfioc_iface)
 #define	DIOCCLRIFFLAG	_IOWR('D', 90, struct pfioc_iface)
 #define	DIOCKILLSRCNODES	_IOWR('D', 91, struct pfioc_src_node_kill)
+#define	DIOCKEEPCOUNTERS	_IOWR('D', 92, struct pfioc_nv)
+
 struct pf_ifspeed_v0 {
 	char			ifname[IFNAMSIZ];
 	u_int32_t		baudrate;
diff --git a/sys/netpfil/pf/pf_ioctl.c b/sys/netpfil/pf/pf_ioctl.c
--- a/sys/netpfil/pf/pf_ioctl.c
+++ b/sys/netpfil/pf/pf_ioctl.c
@@ -197,6 +197,7 @@
 static int		 pf_clear_tables(void);
 static void		 pf_clear_srcnodes(struct pf_ksrc_node *);
 static void		 pf_kill_srcnodes(struct pfioc_src_node_kill *);
+static int		 pf_keepcounters(struct pfioc_nv *);
 static void		 pf_tbladdr_copyout(struct pf_addr_wrap *);
 
 /*
@@ -1022,11 +1023,27 @@
 	PF_MD5_UPD(rule, tos);
 }
 
+static bool
+pf_krule_compare(struct pf_krule *a, struct pf_krule *b)
+{
+	MD5_CTX		ctx[2];
+	u_int8_t	digest[2][PF_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH];
+
+	MD5Init(&ctx[0]);
+	MD5Init(&ctx[1]);
+	pf_hash_rule(&ctx[0], a);
+	pf_hash_rule(&ctx[1], b);
+	MD5Final(digest[0], &ctx[0]);
+	MD5Final(digest[1], &ctx[1]);
+
+	return (memcmp(digest[0], digest[1], PF_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH) == 0);
+}
+
 static int
 pf_commit_rules(u_int32_t ticket, int rs_num, char *anchor)
 {
 	struct pf_kruleset	*rs;
-	struct pf_krule		*rule, **old_array;
+	struct pf_krule		*rule, **old_array, *tail;
 	struct pf_krulequeue	*old_rules;
 	int			 error;
 	u_int32_t		 old_rcount;
@@ -1058,6 +1075,29 @@
 	    rs->rules[rs_num].inactive.ptr_array;
 	rs->rules[rs_num].active.rcount =
 	    rs->rules[rs_num].inactive.rcount;
+
+	/* Attempt to preserve counter information. */
+	if (V_pf_status.keep_counters) {
+		TAILQ_FOREACH(rule, rs->rules[rs_num].active.ptr,
+		    entries) {
+			tail = TAILQ_FIRST(old_rules);
+			while ((tail != NULL) && ! pf_krule_compare(tail, rule))
+				tail = TAILQ_NEXT(tail, entries);
+			if (tail != NULL) {
+				counter_u64_add(rule->evaluations,
+				    counter_u64_fetch(tail->evaluations));
+				counter_u64_add(rule->packets[0],
+				    counter_u64_fetch(tail->packets[0]));
+				counter_u64_add(rule->packets[1],
+				    counter_u64_fetch(tail->packets[1]));
+				counter_u64_add(rule->bytes[0],
+				    counter_u64_fetch(tail->bytes[0]));
+				counter_u64_add(rule->bytes[1],
+				    counter_u64_fetch(tail->bytes[1]));
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	rs->rules[rs_num].inactive.ptr = old_rules;
 	rs->rules[rs_num].inactive.ptr_array = old_array;
 	rs->rules[rs_num].inactive.rcount = old_rcount;
@@ -4948,6 +4988,10 @@
 		pf_kill_srcnodes((struct pfioc_src_node_kill *)addr);
 		break;
 
+	case DIOCKEEPCOUNTERS:
+		error = pf_keepcounters((struct pfioc_nv *)addr);
+		break;
+
 	case DIOCSETHOSTID: {
 		u_int32_t	*hostid = (u_int32_t *)addr;
 
@@ -5227,6 +5271,41 @@
 	psnk->psnk_killed = pf_free_src_nodes(&kill);
 }
 
+static int
+pf_keepcounters(struct pfioc_nv *nv)
+{
+	nvlist_t	*nvl = NULL;
+	void		*nvlpacked = NULL;
+	int		 error = 0;
+
+#define	ERROUT(x)	do { error = (x); goto on_error; } while (0)
+
+	if (nv->len > pf_ioctl_maxcount)
+		ERROUT(ENOMEM);
+
+	nvlpacked = malloc(nv->len, M_TEMP, M_WAITOK);
+	if (nvlpacked == NULL)
+		ERROUT(ENOMEM);
+
+	error = copyin(nv->data, nvlpacked, nv->len);
+	if (error)
+		ERROUT(error);
+
+	nvl = nvlist_unpack(nvlpacked, nv->len, 0);
+	if (nvl == NULL)
+		ERROUT(EBADMSG);
+
+	if (! nvlist_exists_bool(nvl, "keep_counters"))
+		ERROUT(EBADMSG);
+
+	V_pf_status.keep_counters = nvlist_get_bool(nvl, "keep_counters");
+
+on_error:
+	nvlist_destroy(nvl);
+	free(nvlpacked, M_TEMP);
+	return (error);
+}
+
 /*
  * XXX - Check for version missmatch!!!
  */