diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bd949c7..8e10367 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ### Changed
 
 - Changed `Queue` function to not to convert the provided queue name to lowercase. Queue names are now case-sensitive.
+- `QueueInfo.MemoryUsage` is now an approximate usage value.
+
+### Fixed
+
+- Fixed latency issue around memory usage (see https://github.com/hibiken/asynq/issues/309).
 
 ## [0.18.1] - 2020-07-04
 
diff --git a/inspector.go b/inspector.go
index 725c664..0375f51 100644
--- a/inspector.go
+++ b/inspector.go
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ type QueueInfo struct {
 	Queue string
 
 	// Total number of bytes that the queue and its tasks require to be stored in redis.
+	// It is an approximate memory usage value in bytes since the value is computed by sampling.
 	MemoryUsage int64
 
 	// Size is the total number of tasks in the queue.
diff --git a/internal/rdb/inspect.go b/internal/rdb/inspect.go
index 7fcf3f1..ff02cb6 100644
--- a/internal/rdb/inspect.go
+++ b/internal/rdb/inspect.go
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ type Stats struct {
 	// Name of the queue (e.g. "default", "critical").
 	Queue string
 	// MemoryUsage is the total number of bytes the queue and its tasks require
-	// to be stored in redis.
+	// to be stored in redis. It is an approximate memory usage value in bytes
+	// since the value is computed by sampling.
 	MemoryUsage int64
 	// Paused indicates whether the queue is paused.
 	// If true, tasks in the queue should not be processed.
@@ -172,31 +173,82 @@ func (r *RDB) CurrentStats(qname string) (*Stats, error) {
 	return stats, nil
 }
 
+// Computes memory usage for the given queue by sampling tasks
+// from each redis list/zset. Returns approximate memory usage value
+// in bytes.
+//
+// KEYS[1] -> asynq:{qname}:active
+// KEYS[2] -> asynq:{qname}:pending
+// KEYS[3] -> asynq:{qname}:scheduled
+// KEYS[4] -> asynq:{qname}:retry
+// KEYS[5] -> asynq:{qname}:archived
+//
+// ARGV[1] -> asynq:{qname}:t:
+// ARGV[2] -> sample_size (e.g 20)
+var memoryUsageCmd = redis.NewScript(`
+local sample_size = tonumber(ARGV[2])
+if sample_size <= 0 then
+    return redis.error_reply("sample size must be a positive number")
+end
+local memusg = 0
+for i=1,2 do
+    local ids = redis.call("LRANGE", KEYS[i], 0, sample_size - 1)
+    local sample_total = 0
+    if (table.getn(ids) > 0) then
+        for _, id in ipairs(ids) do
+            local bytes = redis.call("MEMORY", "USAGE", ARGV[1] .. id)
+            sample_total = sample_total + bytes
+        end
+        local n = redis.call("LLEN", KEYS[i])
+        local avg = sample_total / table.getn(ids)
+        memusg = memusg + (avg * n)
+    end
+    local m = redis.call("MEMORY", "USAGE", KEYS[i])
+    if (m) then
+        memusg = memusg + m
+    end
+end
+for i=3,5 do
+    local ids = redis.call("ZRANGE", KEYS[i], 0, sample_size - 1)
+    local sample_total = 0
+    if (table.getn(ids) > 0) then
+        for _, id in ipairs(ids) do
+            local bytes = redis.call("MEMORY", "USAGE", ARGV[1] .. id)
+            sample_total = sample_total + bytes
+        end
+        local n = redis.call("ZCARD", KEYS[i])
+        local avg = sample_total / table.getn(ids)
+        memusg = memusg + (avg * n)
+    end
+    local m = redis.call("MEMORY", "USAGE", KEYS[i])
+    if (m) then
+        memusg = memusg + m
+    end
+end
+return memusg
+`)
+
 func (r *RDB) memoryUsage(qname string) (int64, error) {
 	var op errors.Op = "rdb.memoryUsage"
-	var (
-		keys   []string
-		data   []string
-		cursor uint64
-		err    error
-	)
-	for {
-		data, cursor, err = r.client.Scan(cursor, fmt.Sprintf("asynq:{%s}*", qname), 100).Result()
-		if err != nil {
-			return 0, errors.E(op, errors.Unknown, &errors.RedisCommandError{Command: "scan", Err: err})
-		}
-		keys = append(keys, data...)
-		if cursor == 0 {
-			break
-		}
+	const sampleSize = 20
+	keys := []string{
+		base.ActiveKey(qname),
+		base.PendingKey(qname),
+		base.ScheduledKey(qname),
+		base.RetryKey(qname),
+		base.ArchivedKey(qname),
 	}
-	var usg int64
-	for _, k := range keys {
-		n, err := r.client.MemoryUsage(k).Result()
-		if err != nil {
-			return 0, errors.E(op, errors.Unknown, &errors.RedisCommandError{Command: "memory usage", Err: err})
-		}
-		usg += n
+	argv := []interface{}{
+		base.TaskKeyPrefix(qname),
+		sampleSize,
+	}
+	res, err := memoryUsageCmd.Run(r.client, keys, argv...).Result()
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, errors.E(op, errors.Unknown, fmt.Sprintf("redis eval error: %v", err))
+	}
+	usg, err := cast.ToInt64E(res)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, errors.E(op, errors.Internal, fmt.Sprintf("could not cast script return value to int64"))
 	}
 	return usg, nil
 }