diff --git a/src/auth/googleauth.ts b/src/auth/googleauth.ts
index b4f6cf15..aca320ac 100644
--- a/src/auth/googleauth.ts
+++ b/src/auth/googleauth.ts
@@ -185,13 +185,6 @@ export class GoogleAuth<T extends AuthClient = JSONClient> {
   private scopes?: string | string[];
   private clientOptions: AuthClientOptions = {};
 
-  /**
-   * The cached universe domain.
-   *
-   * @see {@link GoogleAuth.getUniverseDomain}
-   */
-  #universeDomain?: string = undefined;
-
   /**
    * Export DefaultTransporter as a static property of the class.
    */
@@ -220,7 +213,6 @@ export class GoogleAuth<T extends AuthClient = JSONClient> {
 
     if (opts.universeDomain) {
       this.clientOptions.universeDomain = opts.universeDomain;
-      this.#universeDomain = opts.universeDomain;
     }
   }
 
@@ -315,9 +307,13 @@ export class GoogleAuth<T extends AuthClient = JSONClient> {
     return this._findProjectIdPromise;
   }
 
-  async #getUniverseFromMetadataServer() {
-    if (!(await this._checkIsGCE())) return;
-
+  /**
+   * Retrieves a universe domain from the metadata server via
+   * {@link gcpMetadata.universe}.
+   *
+   * @returns a universe domain
+   */
+  async getUniverseDomainFromMetadataServer(): Promise<string> {
     let universeDomain: string;
 
     try {
@@ -338,17 +334,18 @@ export class GoogleAuth<T extends AuthClient = JSONClient> {
    * Retrieves, caches, and returns the universe domain in the following order
    * of precedence:
    * - The universe domain in {@link GoogleAuth.clientOptions}
-   * - {@link gcpMetadata.universe}
+   * - An existing or ADC {@link AuthClient}'s universe domain
+   * - {@link gcpMetadata.universe}, if {@link Compute} client
    *
    * @returns The universe domain
    */
   async getUniverseDomain(): Promise<string> {
-    this.#universeDomain ??= originalOrCamelOptions(this.clientOptions).get(
+    let universeDomain = originalOrCamelOptions(this.clientOptions).get(
       'universe_domain'
     );
-    this.#universeDomain ??= await this.#getUniverseFromMetadataServer();
+    universeDomain ??= (await this.getClient()).universeDomain;
 
-    return this.#universeDomain || DEFAULT_UNIVERSE;
+    return universeDomain;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -438,7 +435,8 @@ export class GoogleAuth<T extends AuthClient = JSONClient> {
     if (await this._checkIsGCE()) {
       // set universe domain for Compute client
       if (!originalOrCamelOptions(options).get('universe_domain')) {
-        options.universeDomain = await this.getUniverseDomain();
+        options.universeDomain =
+          await this.getUniverseDomainFromMetadataServer();
       }
 
       (options as ComputeOptions).scopes = this.getAnyScopes();
@@ -622,11 +620,8 @@ export class GoogleAuth<T extends AuthClient = JSONClient> {
     }
 
     // Create source client for impersonation
-    const sourceClient = new UserRefreshClient(
-      json.source_credentials.client_id,
-      json.source_credentials.client_secret,
-      json.source_credentials.refresh_token
-    );
+    const sourceClient = new UserRefreshClient();
+    sourceClient.fromJSON(json.source_credentials);
 
     if (json.service_account_impersonation_url?.length > 256) {
       /**
@@ -652,6 +647,7 @@ export class GoogleAuth<T extends AuthClient = JSONClient> {
     const targetScopes = this.getAnyScopes() ?? [];
 
     const client = new Impersonated({
+      ...json,
       delegates: json.delegates ?? [],
       sourceClient: sourceClient,
       targetPrincipal: targetPrincipal,
@@ -672,6 +668,10 @@ export class GoogleAuth<T extends AuthClient = JSONClient> {
   ): JSONClient {
     let client: JSONClient;
 
+    // user's preferred universe domain
+    const preferredUniverseDomain =
+      originalOrCamelOptions(options).get('universe_domain');
+
     if (json.type === USER_REFRESH_ACCOUNT_TYPE) {
       client = new UserRefreshClient(options);
       client.fromJSON(json);
@@ -694,6 +694,11 @@ export class GoogleAuth<T extends AuthClient = JSONClient> {
       this.setGapicJWTValues(client);
       client.fromJSON(json);
     }
+
+    if (preferredUniverseDomain) {
+      client.universeDomain = preferredUniverseDomain;
+    }
+
     return client;
   }
 
diff --git a/src/auth/jwtclient.ts b/src/auth/jwtclient.ts
index 9e12b23c..31c41dbd 100644
--- a/src/auth/jwtclient.ts
+++ b/src/auth/jwtclient.ts
@@ -321,6 +321,7 @@ export class JWT extends OAuth2Client implements IdTokenProvider {
     this.keyId = json.private_key_id;
     this.projectId = json.project_id;
     this.quotaProjectId = json.quota_project_id;
+    this.universeDomain = json.universe_domain || this.universeDomain;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/src/auth/refreshclient.ts b/src/auth/refreshclient.ts
index 816be6e5..a53f1b1d 100644
--- a/src/auth/refreshclient.ts
+++ b/src/auth/refreshclient.ts
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ export class UserRefreshClient extends OAuth2Client {
     this._refreshToken = json.refresh_token;
     this.credentials.refresh_token = json.refresh_token;
     this.quotaProjectId = json.quota_project_id;
+    this.universeDomain = json.universe_domain || this.universeDomain;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/test/fixtures/private2.json b/test/fixtures/private2.json
index 88ab26e0..9aecf271 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/private2.json
+++ b/test/fixtures/private2.json
@@ -4,5 +4,6 @@
   "client_email": "goodbye@youarecool.com",
   "client_id": "client456",
   "type": "service_account",
-  "project_id": "my-awesome-project"
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+  "project_id": "my-awesome-project",
+  "universe_domain": "my-universe"
+}
diff --git a/test/test.googleauth.ts b/test/test.googleauth.ts
index 93609af7..ff3d5bcd 100644
--- a/test/test.googleauth.ts
+++ b/test/test.googleauth.ts
@@ -1568,6 +1568,20 @@ describe('googleauth', () => {
         assert.equal(await auth.getUniverseDomain(), universeDomain);
       });
 
+      it('should get the universe from ADC', async () => {
+        mockEnvVar(
+          'GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS',
+          './test/fixtures/private2.json'
+        );
+        const {universe_domain} = JSON.parse(
+          fs.readFileSync('./test/fixtures/private2.json', 'utf-8')
+        );
+
+        assert(universe_domain);
+        assert.notEqual(universe_domain, DEFAULT_UNIVERSE);
+        assert.equal(await auth.getUniverseDomain(), universe_domain);
+      });
+
       it('should use the metadata service if on GCP', async () => {
         const universeDomain = 'my.universe.com';
         const scope = nockIsGCE({universeDomain});