diff --git a/changes/1803-PrettyWood.md b/changes/1803-PrettyWood.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7671cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/1803-PrettyWood.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Support home directory relative paths for `dotenv` files (e.g. `~/.env`).
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pydantic/env_settings.py b/pydantic/env_settings.py
index 59ed44b..6846e10 100644
--- a/pydantic/env_settings.py
+++ b/pydantic/env_settings.py
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ class BaseSettings(BaseModel):
         env_file = _env_file if _env_file != env_file_sentinel else self.__config__.env_file
         env_file_encoding = _env_file_encoding if _env_file_encoding is not None else self.__config__.env_file_encoding
         if env_file is not None:
-            env_path = Path(env_file)
+            env_path = Path(env_file).expanduser()
             if env_path.is_file():
                 env_vars = {
                     **read_env_file(
diff --git a/tests/test_settings.py b/tests/test_settings.py
index d24aae3..25e88ac 100644
--- a/tests/test_settings.py
+++ b/tests/test_settings.py
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 import os
+import uuid
+from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Set
 
 import pytest
@@ -547,6 +549,28 @@ def test_env_file_config_custom_encoding(tmp_path):
     assert s.pika == 'p!±@'
 
 
+@pytest.fixture
+def home_tmp():
+    tmp_filename = f'{uuid.uuid4()}.env'
+    home_tmp_path = Path.home() / tmp_filename
+    yield home_tmp_path, tmp_filename
+    home_tmp_path.unlink()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skipif(not dotenv, reason='python-dotenv not installed')
+def test_env_file_home_directory(home_tmp):
+    home_tmp_path, tmp_filename = home_tmp
+    home_tmp_path.write_text('pika=baz')
+
+    class Settings(BaseSettings):
+        pika: str
+
+        class Config:
+            env_file = f'~/{tmp_filename}'
+
+    assert Settings().pika == 'baz'
+
+
 @pytest.mark.skipif(not dotenv, reason='python-dotenv not installed')
 def test_env_file_none(tmp_path):
     p = tmp_path / '.env'