diff --git a/src/tracksdata/graph/_rustworkx_graph.py b/src/tracksdata/graph/_rustworkx_graph.py
index 5f6a2645..8fb9e9e4 100644
--- a/src/tracksdata/graph/_rustworkx_graph.py
+++ b/src/tracksdata/graph/_rustworkx_graph.py
@@ -950,7 +950,6 @@ def _filter_nodes_by_attrs(
             The IDs of the filtered nodes.
         """
         rx_graph = self.rx_graph
-        node_map = None
         # entire graph
         attrs, time = _pop_time_eq(attrs)
         selected_nodes = None
@@ -967,16 +966,15 @@ def _filter_nodes_by_attrs(
         elif node_ids is not None:
             selected_nodes = node_ids
 
-        if selected_nodes is not None:
-            # subgraph of selected nodes
-            rx_graph, node_map = rx_graph.subgraph_with_nodemap(selected_nodes)
-
         _filter_func = _create_filter_func(attrs, self._node_attr_schemas())
 
-        if node_map is None:
+        if selected_nodes is None:
             return list(rx_graph.filter_nodes(_filter_func))
-        else:
-            return [node_map[n] for n in rx_graph.filter_nodes(_filter_func)]
+
+        # evaluate the filter directly on the selected nodes' payloads;
+        # building an rx subgraph here would also copy every edge between
+        # the selected nodes just to discard them afterwards.
+        return [node_id for node_id in selected_nodes if _filter_func(rx_graph[node_id])]
 
     def node_ids(self) -> list[int]:
         """