diff --git a/pandas/io/sql.py b/pandas/io/sql.py
index 18129257af1c9..eceea87316535 100644
--- a/pandas/io/sql.py
+++ b/pandas/io/sql.py
@@ -35,7 +35,10 @@
 from pandas._config import using_string_dtype
 
 from pandas._libs import lib
-from pandas.compat._optional import import_optional_dependency
+from pandas.compat._optional import (
+    VERSIONS,
+    import_optional_dependency,
+)
 from pandas.errors import (
     AbstractMethodError,
     DatabaseError,
@@ -898,7 +901,10 @@ def pandasSQL_builder(
     sqlalchemy = import_optional_dependency("sqlalchemy", errors="ignore")
 
     if isinstance(con, str) and sqlalchemy is None:
-        raise ImportError("Using URI string without sqlalchemy installed.")
+        raise ImportError(
+            f"Using URI string without version '{VERSIONS['sqlalchemy']}' or newer "
+            "of 'sqlalchemy' installed."
+        )
 
     if sqlalchemy is not None and isinstance(con, (str, sqlalchemy.engine.Connectable)):
         return SQLDatabase(con, schema, need_transaction)