diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_string.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_string.cc
index 2eeac71c727..88c91a18818 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_string.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_string.cc
@@ -64,6 +64,22 @@ struct BinaryLength {
   }
 };
 
+struct Utf8Length {
+  template <typename OutValue, typename Arg0Value = util::string_view>
+  static OutValue Call(KernelContext*, Arg0Value val) {
+    auto str = reinterpret_cast<const uint8_t*>(val.data());
+    auto strlen = val.size();
+
+    OutValue length = 0;
+    while (strlen > 0) {
+      length += ((*str & 0xc0) != 0x80);
+      ++str;
+      --strlen;
+    }
+    return length;
+  }
+};
+
 #ifdef ARROW_WITH_UTF8PROC
 
 // Direct lookup tables for unicode properties
@@ -1569,9 +1585,14 @@ const FunctionDoc strptime_doc(
 
 const FunctionDoc binary_length_doc(
     "Compute string lengths",
-    ("For each string in `strings`, emit its length.  Null values emit null."),
+    ("For each string in `strings`, emit the number of bytes.  Null values emit null."),
     {"strings"});
 
+const FunctionDoc utf8_length_doc("Compute UTF8 string lengths",
+                                  ("For each string in `strings`, emit the number of "
+                                   "UTF8 characters.  Null values emit null."),
+                                  {"strings"});
+
 void AddStrptime(FunctionRegistry* registry) {
   auto func = std::make_shared<ScalarFunction>("strptime", Arity::Unary(), &strptime_doc);
   DCHECK_OK(func->AddKernel({utf8()}, OutputType(StrptimeResolve),
@@ -1597,6 +1618,21 @@ void AddBinaryLength(FunctionRegistry* registry) {
   DCHECK_OK(registry->AddFunction(std::move(func)));
 }
 
+void AddUtf8Length(FunctionRegistry* registry) {
+  auto func =
+      std::make_shared<ScalarFunction>("utf8_length", Arity::Unary(), &utf8_length_doc);
+
+  ArrayKernelExec exec_offset_32 =
+      applicator::ScalarUnaryNotNull<Int32Type, StringType, Utf8Length>::Exec;
+  DCHECK_OK(func->AddKernel({utf8()}, int32(), std::move(exec_offset_32)));
+
+  ArrayKernelExec exec_offset_64 =
+      applicator::ScalarUnaryNotNull<Int64Type, LargeStringType, Utf8Length>::Exec;
+  DCHECK_OK(func->AddKernel({large_utf8()}, int64(), std::move(exec_offset_64)));
+
+  DCHECK_OK(registry->AddFunction(std::move(func)));
+}
+
 template <template <typename> class ExecFunctor>
 void MakeUnaryStringBatchKernel(
     std::string name, FunctionRegistry* registry, const FunctionDoc* doc,
@@ -1866,6 +1902,7 @@ void RegisterScalarStringAscii(FunctionRegistry* registry) {
 
   AddSplit(registry);
   AddBinaryLength(registry);
+  AddUtf8Length(registry);
   AddMatchSubstring(registry);
   AddStrptime(registry);
 }
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_string_test.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_string_test.cc
index d72c631bdcd..281fcb5c7aa 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_string_test.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_string_test.cc
@@ -61,8 +61,8 @@ class TestBinaryKernels : public BaseTestStringKernels<TestType> {};
 TYPED_TEST_SUITE(TestBinaryKernels, BinaryTypes);
 
 TYPED_TEST(TestBinaryKernels, BinaryLength) {
-  this->CheckUnary("binary_length", R"(["aaa", null, "", "b"])", this->offset_type(),
-                   "[3, null, 0, 1]");
+  this->CheckUnary("binary_length", R"(["aaa", null, "áéíóú", "", "b"])",
+                   this->offset_type(), "[3, null, 10, 0, 1]");
 }
 
 template <typename TestType>
@@ -101,6 +101,12 @@ TEST(TestStringKernels, LARGE_MEMORY_TEST(Utf8Upper32bitGrowth)) {
                                   CallFunction("utf8_upper", {scalar}, options));
 }
 
+TYPED_TEST(TestStringKernels, Utf8Length) {
+  this->CheckUnary("utf8_length",
+                   R"(["aaa", null, "áéíóú", "ɑɽⱤoW😀", "áéí 0😀", "", "b"])",
+                   this->offset_type(), "[3, null, 5, 6, 6, 0, 1]");
+}
+
 #ifdef ARROW_WITH_UTF8PROC
 
 TYPED_TEST(TestStringKernels, Utf8Upper) {
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/util/utf8_util_test.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/util/utf8_util_test.cc
index 25d5beb2ea5..8b6713623c4 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/util/utf8_util_test.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/util/utf8_util_test.cc
@@ -65,7 +65,8 @@ class UTF8Test : public ::testing::Test {
   static std::vector<std::string> invalid_sequences_ascii;
 };
 
-std::vector<std::string> UTF8Test::valid_sequences_1 = {"a", "\x7f"};
+std::vector<std::string> UTF8Test::valid_sequences_1 = {"a", "\x7f",
+                                                        std::string("\0", 1)};
 std::vector<std::string> UTF8Test::valid_sequences_2 = {"\xc2\x80", "\xc3\xbf",
                                                         "\xdf\xbf"};
 std::vector<std::string> UTF8Test::valid_sequences_3 = {"\xe0\xa0\x80", "\xe8\x9d\xa5",
diff --git a/docs/source/cpp/compute.rst b/docs/source/cpp/compute.rst
index 8b4f2219989..e4eaa94bc59 100644
--- a/docs/source/cpp/compute.rst
+++ b/docs/source/cpp/compute.rst
@@ -435,9 +435,11 @@ String transforms
 +--------------------------+------------+-------------------------+---------------------+---------+
 | binary_length            | Unary      | Binary- or String-like  | Int32 or Int64      | \(2)    |
 +--------------------------+------------+-------------------------+---------------------+---------+
-| utf8_lower               | Unary      | String-like             | String-like         | \(3)    |
+| utf8_length              | Unary      | String-like             | Int32 or Int64      | \(3)    |
 +--------------------------+------------+-------------------------+---------------------+---------+
-| utf8_upper               | Unary      | String-like             | String-like         | \(3)    |
+| utf8_lower               | Unary      | String-like             | String-like         | \(4)    |
++--------------------------+------------+-------------------------+---------------------+---------+
+| utf8_upper               | Unary      | String-like             | String-like         | \(4)    |
 +--------------------------+------------+-------------------------+---------------------+---------+
 
 
@@ -447,7 +449,10 @@ String transforms
 * \(2) Output is the physical length in bytes of each input element.  Output
   type is Int32 for Binary / String, Int64 for LargeBinary / LargeString.
 
-* \(3) Each UTF8-encoded character in the input is converted to lowercase or
+* \(3) Output is the number of characters (not bytes) of each input element.
+  Output type is Int32 for String, Int64 for LargeString. 
+
+* \(4) Each UTF8-encoded character in the input is converted to lowercase or
   uppercase.