diff --git a/esphome/components/socket/bsd_sockets_impl.cpp b/esphome/components/socket/bsd_sockets_impl.cpp
index 824a4bea45..f8ea4a8cdb 100644
--- a/esphome/components/socket/bsd_sockets_impl.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/socket/bsd_sockets_impl.cpp
@@ -59,12 +59,6 @@ int BSDSocketImpl::setblocking(bool blocking) {
   return 0;
 }
 
-#ifdef USE_LWIP_FAST_SELECT
-bool BSDSocketImpl::ready() const { return socket_ready(this->cached_sock_, this->loop_monitored_); }
-#else
-bool BSDSocketImpl::ready() const { return socket_ready_fd(this->fd_, this->loop_monitored_); }
-#endif
-
 size_t BSDSocketImpl::getpeername_to(std::span<char, SOCKADDR_STR_LEN> buf) {
   struct sockaddr_storage storage;
   socklen_t len = sizeof(storage);
diff --git a/esphome/components/socket/lwip_sockets_impl.cpp b/esphome/components/socket/lwip_sockets_impl.cpp
index 4c68da2aaf..c41739cc03 100644
--- a/esphome/components/socket/lwip_sockets_impl.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/socket/lwip_sockets_impl.cpp
@@ -59,12 +59,6 @@ int LwIPSocketImpl::setblocking(bool blocking) {
   return 0;
 }
 
-#ifdef USE_LWIP_FAST_SELECT
-bool LwIPSocketImpl::ready() const { return socket_ready(this->cached_sock_, this->loop_monitored_); }
-#else
-bool LwIPSocketImpl::ready() const { return socket_ready_fd(this->fd_, this->loop_monitored_); }
-#endif
-
 size_t LwIPSocketImpl::getpeername_to(std::span<char, SOCKADDR_STR_LEN> buf) {
   struct sockaddr_storage storage;
   socklen_t len = sizeof(storage);
diff --git a/esphome/components/socket/socket.h b/esphome/components/socket/socket.h
index 8aec44a91f..def1d8e6fe 100644
--- a/esphome/components/socket/socket.h
+++ b/esphome/components/socket/socket.h
@@ -51,6 +51,18 @@ inline bool socket_ready(struct lwip_sock *cached_sock, bool loop_monitored) {
 bool socket_ready_fd(int fd, bool loop_monitored);
 #endif
 
+// Inline ready() — defined here because it depends on socket_ready/socket_ready_fd
+// declared above, while the impl headers are included before those declarations.
+#if defined(USE_SOCKET_IMPL_BSD_SOCKETS) || defined(USE_SOCKET_IMPL_LWIP_SOCKETS)
+inline bool Socket::ready() const {
+#ifdef USE_LWIP_FAST_SELECT
+  return socket_ready(this->cached_sock_, this->loop_monitored_);
+#else
+  return socket_ready_fd(this->fd_, this->loop_monitored_);
+#endif
+}
+#endif
+
 /// Create a socket of the given domain, type and protocol.
 std::unique_ptr<Socket> socket(int domain, int type, int protocol);
 /// Create a socket in the newest available IP domain (IPv6 or IPv4) of the given type and protocol.