diff --git a/Lib/pdb.py b/Lib/pdb.py
index 60bdb7675c8131..2f11af5b71762b 100755
--- a/Lib/pdb.py
+++ b/Lib/pdb.py
@@ -159,11 +159,11 @@ def __init__(self, completekey='tab', stdin=None, stdout=None, skip=None,
         self.allow_kbdint = False
         self.nosigint = nosigint
 
-        # Read $HOME/.pdbrc and ./.pdbrc
+        # Read ~/.pdbrc and ./.pdbrc
         self.rcLines = []
         if readrc:
-            if 'HOME' in os.environ:
-                envHome = os.environ['HOME']
+            envHome = os.path.expanduser('~')
+            if envHome != '~':
                 try:
                     with open(os.path.join(envHome, ".pdbrc")) as rcFile:
                         self.rcLines.extend(rcFile)
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_pdb.py b/Lib/test/test_pdb.py
index 9aa38e08dd6e6c..60a07ce16b5940 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_pdb.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_pdb.py
@@ -1333,6 +1333,18 @@ def test_readrc_kwarg(self):
             if save_home is not None:
                 os.environ['HOME'] = save_home
 
+    def test_readrc_homedir(self):
+        save_home = os.environ.pop("HOME", None)
+        with support.temp_dir() as temp_dir, patch("os.path.expanduser"):
+            os.path.expanduser.return_value = temp_dir
+            try:
+                with open(os.path.join(temp_dir, ".pdbrc"), "w") as f:
+                    f.write("invalid")
+                self.assertEqual(pdb.Pdb().rcLines[0], "invalid")
+            finally:
+                if save_home is not None:
+                    os.environ["HOME"] = save_home
+
     def test_header(self):
         stdout = StringIO()
         header = 'Nobody expects... blah, blah, blah'