diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 679f1ba6..33bb75a4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.
 ### Fixed
 
 - Fix unawaited coroutine in `stac_fastapi.core.core`. [#551](https://github.com/stac-utils/stac-fastapi-elasticsearch-opensearch/pull/551)
+- Parse `ES_TIMEOUT` environment variable as an integer. [#556](https://github.com/stac-utils/stac-fastapi-elasticsearch-opensearch/pull/556)
 
 ### Removed
 
diff --git a/compose.yml b/compose.yml
index 00fb5938..23c9a101 100644
--- a/compose.yml
+++ b/compose.yml
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ services:
       - ES_PORT=9200
       - ES_USE_SSL=false
       - ES_VERIFY_CERTS=false
+      - ES_TIMEOUT=30
       - BACKEND=elasticsearch
       - DATABASE_REFRESH=true
       - ENABLE_COLLECTIONS_SEARCH_ROUTE=true
@@ -60,6 +61,7 @@ services:
       - ES_PORT=9202
       - ES_USE_SSL=false
       - ES_VERIFY_CERTS=false
+      - ES_TIMEOUT=30
       - BACKEND=opensearch
       - STAC_FASTAPI_RATE_LIMIT=200/minute
       - ENABLE_COLLECTIONS_SEARCH_ROUTE=true
diff --git a/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/config.py b/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/config.py
index c5b6e3dd..3ea42b3a 100644
--- a/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/config.py
+++ b/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/config.py
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ def _es_config() -> Dict[str, Any]:
 
     # Include timeout setting if set
     if request_timeout := os.getenv("ES_TIMEOUT"):
-        config["request_timeout"] = request_timeout
+        config["request_timeout"] = int(request_timeout)
 
     # Explicitly exclude SSL settings when not using SSL
     if not use_ssl:
diff --git a/stac_fastapi/opensearch/stac_fastapi/opensearch/config.py b/stac_fastapi/opensearch/stac_fastapi/opensearch/config.py
index ec8fb90b..a87f2a98 100644
--- a/stac_fastapi/opensearch/stac_fastapi/opensearch/config.py
+++ b/stac_fastapi/opensearch/stac_fastapi/opensearch/config.py
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ def _es_config() -> Dict[str, Any]:
 
     # Include timeout setting if set
     if timeout := os.getenv("ES_TIMEOUT"):
-        config["timeout"] = timeout
+        config["timeout"] = int(timeout)
 
     # Explicitly exclude SSL settings when not using SSL
     if not use_ssl: