diff --git a/salt/states/pip_state.py b/salt/states/pip_state.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/salt/states/pip_state.py
+++ b/salt/states/pip_state.py
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ def installed(name,
             ret['comment'] = ' '.join(comments)
         else:
             if not prefix:
-                pkg_list = []
+                pkg_list = {}
             else:
                 pkg_list = __salt__['pip.list'](
                     prefix, bin_env, user=user, cwd=cwd
despite the name, pkg_list is a dict; initialize accordingly