diff --git a/esphome/dashboard/settings.py b/esphome/dashboard/settings.py
index aa994ae4877..3b22180b1db 100644
--- a/esphome/dashboard/settings.py
+++ b/esphome/dashboard/settings.py
@@ -85,7 +85,9 @@ class DashboardSettings:
         if not self.using_auth:
             return True
         # Compare in constant running time (to prevent timing attacks)
-        username_matches = hmac.compare_digest(username, self.username)
+        username_matches = hmac.compare_digest(
+            username.encode("utf-8"), self.username.encode("utf-8")
+        )
         password_matches = hmac.compare_digest(
             self.password_hash, password_hash(password)
         )
diff --git a/tests/dashboard/test_settings.py b/tests/dashboard/test_settings.py
index 89f1b9a4247..55776ac7c4d 100644
--- a/tests/dashboard/test_settings.py
+++ b/tests/dashboard/test_settings.py
@@ -258,6 +258,18 @@ def test_check_password_no_auth(dashboard_settings: DashboardSettings) -> None:
     assert dashboard_settings.check_password("anyone", "anything") is True
 
 
+def test_check_password_non_ascii_username(
+    dashboard_settings: DashboardSettings,
+) -> None:
+    """Test check_password handles non-ASCII usernames without TypeError."""
+    dashboard_settings.username = "\u00e9l\u00e8ve"
+    dashboard_settings.using_password = True
+    dashboard_settings.password_hash = password_hash("pass")
+    assert dashboard_settings.check_password("\u00e9l\u00e8ve", "pass") is True
+    assert dashboard_settings.check_password("\u00e9l\u00e8ve", "wrong") is False
+    assert dashboard_settings.check_password("other", "pass") is False
+
+
 def test_check_password_ha_addon_no_password(
     dashboard_settings: DashboardSettings,
     monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch,