diff --git a/esphome/components/esp32/core.cpp b/esphome/components/esp32/core.cpp
index 0a2a52f2e75..0e114d09338 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esp32/core.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/esp32/core.cpp
@@ -84,7 +84,8 @@ static StaticTask_t loop_task_tcb;        // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-avoid-non-
 static StackType_t
     loop_task_stack[ESPHOME_LOOP_TASK_STACK_SIZE];  // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-avoid-non-const-global-variables)
 
-void __attribute__((optimize("O2"))) loop_task(void *pv_params) {
+void __attribute__((optimize("O2")))  // NOLINT(clang-diagnostic-unknown-attributes)
+loop_task(void *pv_params) {
   setup();
   while (true) {
     App.loop();
diff --git a/esphome/components/host/core.cpp b/esphome/components/host/core.cpp
index 0ade4274feb..42178045164 100644
--- a/esphome/components/host/core.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/host/core.cpp
@@ -77,7 +77,8 @@ uint32_t arch_get_cpu_freq_hz() { return 1000000000U; }
 
 void setup();
 void loop();
-int main() {
+int __attribute__((optimize("O2")))  // NOLINT(clang-diagnostic-unknown-attributes)
+main() {
   // Install signal handlers for graceful shutdown (flushes preferences to disk)
   std::signal(SIGINT, signal_handler);
   std::signal(SIGTERM, signal_handler);
diff --git a/esphome/components/zephyr/core.cpp b/esphome/components/zephyr/core.cpp
index a3b0471ebcc..26832b3b217 100644
--- a/esphome/components/zephyr/core.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/zephyr/core.cpp
@@ -95,7 +95,8 @@ void get_mac_address_raw(uint8_t *mac) {  // NOLINT(readability-non-const-parame
 void setup();
 void loop();
 
-int main() {
+int __attribute__((optimize("O2")))  // NOLINT(clang-diagnostic-unknown-attributes)
+main() {
   setup();
   while (true) {
     loop();
diff --git a/esphome/core/application.h b/esphome/core/application.h
index 374645d80a5..8d3168480f2 100644
--- a/esphome/core/application.h
+++ b/esphome/core/application.h
@@ -569,7 +569,10 @@ inline void ESPHOME_ALWAYS_INLINE Application::before_loop_tasks_(uint32_t loop_
   this->in_loop_ = true;
 }
 
-inline void ESPHOME_ALWAYS_INLINE Application::loop() {
+// NOLINTNEXTLINE(clang-diagnostic-unknown-attributes)
+inline void ESPHOME_ALWAYS_INLINE __attribute__((optimize("O2"))) Application::loop() {
+  uint8_t new_app_state = 0;
+
   // Get the initial loop time at the start
   uint32_t last_op_end_time = millis();
 
diff --git a/tests/unit_tests/test_writer.py b/tests/unit_tests/test_writer.py
index 1f5d4e75d9c..9c4a491e100 100644
--- a/tests/unit_tests/test_writer.py
+++ b/tests/unit_tests/test_writer.py
@@ -783,7 +783,8 @@ def test_write_cpp_creates_new_file(
     assert CPP_AUTO_GENERATE_END in written_content
     assert test_code in written_content
     assert "void setup()" in written_content
-    assert "void loop()" in written_content
+    assert 'optimize("O2")' in written_content
+    assert "loop()" in written_content
     assert "App.setup();" in written_content
     assert "App.loop();" in written_content