diff --git a/docs/cli.rst b/docs/cli.rst
index 119e49d..f75f370 100644
--- a/docs/cli.rst
+++ b/docs/cli.rst
@@ -55,6 +55,11 @@ If you want to pretty-print the output further, you can pipe it through ``python
         }
     ]
 
+If you execute an `UPDATE` or `INSERT` query the comand will return the number of affected rows::
+
+    $ sqlite-utils dogs.db "update dogs set age = 5 where name = 'Cleo'"   
+    [{"rows_affected": 1}]
+
 You can run queries against a temporary in-memory database by passing ``:memory:`` as the filename::
 
     $ sqlite-utils :memory: "select sqlite_version()"
diff --git a/sqlite_utils/cli.py b/sqlite_utils/cli.py
index 4cbb13e..fe5cd64 100644
--- a/sqlite_utils/cli.py
+++ b/sqlite_utils/cli.py
@@ -669,14 +669,19 @@ def drop_view(path, view):
 def query(path, sql, nl, arrays, csv, no_headers, table, fmt, json_cols):
     "Execute SQL query and return the results as JSON"
     db = sqlite_utils.Database(path)
-    cursor = iter(db.conn.execute(sql))
-    headers = [c[0] for c in cursor.description]
+    cursor = db.conn.execute(sql)
+    if cursor.description is None:
+        # This was an update/insert
+        headers = ["rows_affected"]
+        cursor = [[cursor.rowcount]]
+    else:
+        headers = [c[0] for c in cursor.description]
     if table:
         print(tabulate.tabulate(list(cursor), headers=headers, tablefmt=fmt))
     elif csv:
         writer = csv_std.writer(sys.stdout)
         if not no_headers:
-            writer.writerow([c[0] for c in cursor.description])
+            writer.writerow(headers)
         for row in cursor:
             writer.writerow(row)
     else:
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 9cd5965..9e43fb9 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -1107,3 +1107,22 @@ def test_drop_view_error():
         result = runner.invoke(cli.cli, ["drop-view", "test.db", "t2",],)
         assert 1 == result.exit_code
         assert 'Error: View "t2" does not exist' == result.output.strip()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "args,expected",
+    [
+        ([], '[{"rows_affected": 1}]',),
+        (["-t"], "rows_affected\n---------------\n              1"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_query_update(db_path, args, expected):
+    db = Database(db_path)
+    with db.conn:
+        db["dogs"].insert_all(
+            [{"id": 1, "age": 4, "name": "Cleo"},]
+        )
+    result = CliRunner().invoke(
+        cli.cli, [db_path, "update dogs set age = 5 where name = 'Cleo'"] + args
+    )
+    assert expected == result.output.strip()