diff --git a/man/networkctl.xml b/man/networkctl.xml
index 497d88a15f8..7d461786d75 100644
--- a/man/networkctl.xml
+++ b/man/networkctl.xml
@@ -96,8 +96,7 @@
               <varlistentry>
                 <term>degraded-carrier</term>
                 <listitem>
-                  <para>for bond or bridge master, one of the bonding or bridge slave network interfaces is
-                  in off, no-carrier, or dormant state</para>
+                  <para>one of the bonding or bridge slave network interfaces is in off, no-carrier, or dormant state, and the master interface has no address.</para>
                 </listitem>
               </varlistentry>
               <varlistentry>
@@ -110,7 +109,9 @@
               <varlistentry>
                 <term>degraded</term>
                 <listitem>
-                  <para>the link has carrier and addresses valid on the local link configured</para>
+                  <para>the link has carrier and addresses valid on the local link configured. For bond or
+                  bridge master this means that not all slave network interfaces have carrier but at least
+                  one does.</para>
                 </listitem>
               </varlistentry>
               <varlistentry>
@@ -122,7 +123,8 @@
               <varlistentry>
                 <term>routable</term>
                 <listitem>
-                  <para>the link has carrier and routable address configured</para>
+                  <para>the link has carrier and routable address configured. For bond or bridge master it is
+                  not necessary for all slave network interfaces to have carrier, but at least one must.</para>
                 </listitem>
               </varlistentry>
             </variablelist>
diff --git a/src/network/networkd-link.c b/src/network/networkd-link.c
index d16090dbcd2..62dd892afaa 100644
--- a/src/network/networkd-link.c
+++ b/src/network/networkd-link.c
@@ -1775,11 +1775,15 @@ void link_update_operstate(Link *link, bool also_update_master) {
          *                          | off | no-carrier | dormant | degraded-carrier | carrier  | enslaved
          *                 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          *                 off      | off | no-carrier | dormant | degraded-carrier | carrier  | enslaved
-         * address_state   degraded | off | no-carrier | dormant | degraded-carrier | degraded | enslaved
-         *                 routable | off | no-carrier | dormant | degraded-carrier | routable | routable
+         * address_state   degraded | off | no-carrier | dormant | degraded         | degraded | enslaved
+         *                 routable | off | no-carrier | dormant | routable         | routable | routable
          */
 
-        if (carrier_state < LINK_CARRIER_STATE_CARRIER || address_state == LINK_ADDRESS_STATE_OFF)
+        if (carrier_state == LINK_CARRIER_STATE_DEGRADED_CARRIER && address_state == LINK_ADDRESS_STATE_ROUTABLE)
+                operstate = LINK_OPERSTATE_ROUTABLE;
+        else if (carrier_state == LINK_CARRIER_STATE_DEGRADED_CARRIER && address_state == LINK_ADDRESS_STATE_DEGRADED)
+                operstate = LINK_OPERSTATE_DEGRADED;
+        else if (carrier_state < LINK_CARRIER_STATE_CARRIER || address_state == LINK_ADDRESS_STATE_OFF)
                 operstate = (LinkOperationalState) carrier_state;
         else if (address_state == LINK_ADDRESS_STATE_ROUTABLE)
                 operstate = LINK_OPERSTATE_ROUTABLE;
diff --git a/test/test-network/systemd-networkd-tests.py b/test/test-network/systemd-networkd-tests.py
index 5658433bca8..b5ef83a9c08 100755
--- a/test/test-network/systemd-networkd-tests.py
+++ b/test/test-network/systemd-networkd-tests.py
@@ -3950,7 +3950,7 @@ class NetworkdBondTests(unittest.TestCase, Utilities):
 
         self.wait_operstate('dummy98', 'off')
         self.wait_operstate('test1', 'enslaved')
-        self.wait_operstate('bond99', 'degraded-carrier')
+        self.wait_operstate('bond99', 'routable')
 
         check_output('ip link set dummy98 up')
 
@@ -4121,7 +4121,7 @@ class NetworkdBridgeTests(unittest.TestCase, Utilities):
         self.assertRegex(output, 'ff00::/8 table local (proto kernel )?metric 256 (linkdown )?pref medium')
 
         remove_link('test1')
-        self.wait_operstate('bridge99', 'degraded-carrier')
+        self.wait_operstate('bridge99', 'routable')
 
         output = check_output('ip -d link show bridge99')
         print(output)