diff --git a/esphome/components/esp32/core.cpp b/esphome/components/esp32/core.cpp
index 313818e601..eaa8bf2d17 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esp32/core.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/esp32/core.cpp
@@ -23,7 +23,19 @@ extern "C" __attribute__((weak)) void initArduino() {}
 namespace esphome {
 
 void HOT yield() { vPortYield(); }
-uint32_t IRAM_ATTR HOT millis() { return micros_to_millis(static_cast<uint64_t>(esp_timer_get_time())); }
+uint32_t IRAM_ATTR HOT millis() {
+  // ESPHome sets CONFIG_FREERTOS_HZ=1000 (see esp32/__init__.py), so one tick = one millisecond
+  // and xTaskGetTickCount() returns ms directly. This is a single volatile memory read (~20ns)
+  // vs esp_timer_get_time() + micros_to_millis() which does a hardware timer read + 64-bit
+  // multiply-shift conversion (~686ns measured). millis() is called 1+N times per main loop
+  // iteration (once at top + once per component for warn_blocking), so this saves ~3.4μs/loop
+  // on a 5-component device. micros() still uses esp_timer_get_time() for μs precision.
+#if CONFIG_FREERTOS_HZ == 1000
+  return xTaskGetTickCount();
+#else
+  return micros_to_millis(static_cast<uint64_t>(esp_timer_get_time()));
+#endif
+}
 uint64_t HOT millis_64() { return micros_to_millis<uint64_t>(static_cast<uint64_t>(esp_timer_get_time())); }
 void HOT delay(uint32_t ms) { vTaskDelay(ms / portTICK_PERIOD_MS); }
 uint32_t IRAM_ATTR HOT micros() { return (uint32_t) esp_timer_get_time(); }