diff --git a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
index 69c7efea32..52700f0500 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
@@ -877,7 +877,8 @@ uint16_t APIConnection::try_send_select_state(EntityBase *entity, APIConnection
                                               bool is_single) {
   auto *select = static_cast<select::Select *>(entity);
   SelectStateResponse resp;
-  resp.set_state(StringRef(select->current_option()));
+  const char *state = select->has_state() ? select->current_option() : "";
+  resp.set_state(StringRef(state));
   resp.missing_state = !select->has_state();
   return fill_and_encode_entity_state(select, resp, SelectStateResponse::MESSAGE_TYPE, conn, remaining_size, is_single);
 }
diff --git a/esphome/components/web_server/web_server.cpp b/esphome/components/web_server/web_server.cpp
index c760d23fb6..9aac55d54f 100644
--- a/esphome/components/web_server/web_server.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/web_server/web_server.cpp
@@ -1185,8 +1185,7 @@ void WebServer::handle_select_request(AsyncWebServerRequest *request, const UrlM
 
     if (request->method() == HTTP_GET && match.method_empty()) {
       auto detail = get_request_detail(request);
-      const char *value = obj->has_state() ? obj->current_option() : "";
-      std::string data = this->select_json(obj, value, detail);
+      std::string data = this->select_json(obj, obj->has_state() ? obj->current_option() : "", detail);
       request->send(200, "application/json", data.c_str());
       return;
     }
@@ -1207,13 +1206,11 @@ void WebServer::handle_select_request(AsyncWebServerRequest *request, const UrlM
 }
 std::string WebServer::select_state_json_generator(WebServer *web_server, void *source) {
   auto *obj = (select::Select *) (source);
-  const char *value = obj->has_state() ? obj->current_option() : "";
-  return web_server->select_json(obj, value, DETAIL_STATE);
+  return web_server->select_json(obj, obj->has_state() ? obj->current_option() : "", DETAIL_STATE);
 }
 std::string WebServer::select_all_json_generator(WebServer *web_server, void *source) {
   auto *obj = (select::Select *) (source);
-  const char *value = obj->has_state() ? obj->current_option() : "";
-  return web_server->select_json(obj, value, DETAIL_ALL);
+  return web_server->select_json(obj, obj->has_state() ? obj->current_option() : "", DETAIL_ALL);
 }
 std::string WebServer::select_json(select::Select *obj, const char *value, JsonDetail start_config) {
   json::JsonBuilder builder;