diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/85370-async-dir-variable-expansion-fix.yml b/changelogs/fragments/85370-async-dir-variable-expansion-fix.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7b3d68fcd5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/85370-async-dir-variable-expansion-fix.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - async_wrapper - fix variable expansion in async_dir to match remote_tmp behavior (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/85370).
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/async_wrapper.py b/lib/ansible/modules/async_wrapper.py
index 65d013ca451..b9df4bddedb 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/async_wrapper.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/async_wrapper.py
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ def main():
     async_dir = os.environ.get('ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR', '~/.ansible_async')
 
     # setup job output directory
-    jobdir = os.path.expanduser(async_dir)
+    jobdir = os.path.expanduser(os.path.expandvars(async_dir))
     global job_path
     job_path = os.path.join(jobdir, jid)
 
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/async/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/targets/async/tasks/main.yml
index bdce3dcba9f..443c1dafed2 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/async/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/async/tasks/main.yml
@@ -279,7 +279,18 @@
   - name: remove custom tmp dir after test
     file:
       path: '{{ custom_async_tmp }}'
-      state: absent
+
+- name: test async with $HOME variable expansion
+  command: echo "test"
+  async: 5
+  poll: 1
+  vars:
+    ansible_async_dir: "$HOME/.ansible_test_var_expansion"
+
+- name: verify $HOME was expanded and cleanup
+  file:
+    path: "{{ ansible_env.HOME }}/.ansible_test_var_expansion"
+    state: absent
 
 - name: Test that async has stdin
   command: >