diff --git a/src/Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost/host/msh/ConsoleHost.cs b/src/Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost/host/msh/ConsoleHost.cs
index 1089985ec0f..e6e8759d3cd 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost/host/msh/ConsoleHost.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost/host/msh/ConsoleHost.cs
@@ -113,13 +113,17 @@ internal static int Start(string bannerText, string helpText, string[] args)
 
             // put PSHOME in front of PATH so that calling `powershell` within `powershell` always starts the same running version
             string path = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH");
-            if (path != null)
+            string pshome = Utils.DefaultPowerShellAppBase + Path.PathSeparator;
+
+            // to not impact startup perf, we don't remove duplicates, but we avoid adding a duplicate to the front
+            // we also don't handle the edge case where PATH only contains $PSHOME
+            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(path))
             {
-                string pshome = Utils.DefaultPowerShellAppBase;
-                if (!path.Contains(pshome))
-                {
-                    Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", pshome + Path.PathSeparator + path);
-                }
+                Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", pshome);
+            }
+            else if (!path.StartsWith(pshome))
+            {
+                Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", pshome + path);
             }
 
             try
diff --git a/test/powershell/Host/ConsoleHost.Tests.ps1 b/test/powershell/Host/ConsoleHost.Tests.ps1
index e18389fd9be..d09f3bb02e1 100644
--- a/test/powershell/Host/ConsoleHost.Tests.ps1
+++ b/test/powershell/Host/ConsoleHost.Tests.ps1
@@ -987,3 +987,25 @@ Describe 'Pwsh startup in directories that contain wild cards' -Tag CI {
         }
     }
 }
+
+Describe 'Pwsh startup and PATH' -Tag CI {
+    BeforeEach {
+        $oldPath = $env:PATH
+    }
+
+    AfterEach {
+        $env:PATH = $oldPath
+    }
+
+    It 'Calling pwsh starts the same version of PowerShell as currently running' {
+        $version = pwsh -v
+        $version | Should -BeExactly "PowerShell $($PSVersionTable.GitCommitId)"
+    }
+
+    It 'pwsh starts even if PATH is not defined' {
+        $pwsh = Join-Path -Path $PSHOME -ChildPath "pwsh"
+        Remove-Item Env:\PATH
+        $path = & $pwsh -noprofile -command '$env:PATH'
+        $path | Should -BeExactly ($PSHOME + [System.IO.Path]::PathSeparator)
+    }
+}