diff --git a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
index 321257e9e2..1c002f82da 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
@@ -1414,15 +1414,15 @@ void APIConnection::on_water_heater_command_request(const WaterHeaterCommandRequ
 #endif
 
 #ifdef USE_EVENT
-void APIConnection::send_event(event::Event *event, std::string_view event_type) {
-  // MessageCreator stores const char* - data() is safe as event types are null-terminated from codegen
-  this->send_message_smart_(event, MessageCreator(event_type.data()), EventResponse::MESSAGE_TYPE,
+void APIConnection::send_event(event::Event *event, StringRef event_type) {
+  // get_last_event_type() returns StringRef pointing to null-terminated string literals from codegen
+  this->send_message_smart_(event, MessageCreator(event_type.c_str()), EventResponse::MESSAGE_TYPE,
                             EventResponse::ESTIMATED_SIZE);
 }
-uint16_t APIConnection::try_send_event_response(event::Event *event, std::string_view event_type, APIConnection *conn,
+uint16_t APIConnection::try_send_event_response(event::Event *event, StringRef event_type, APIConnection *conn,
                                                 uint32_t remaining_size, bool is_single) {
   EventResponse resp;
-  resp.event_type = StringRef(event_type.data(), event_type.size());
+  resp.event_type = event_type;
   return fill_and_encode_entity_state(event, resp, EventResponse::MESSAGE_TYPE, conn, remaining_size, is_single);
 }
 
diff --git a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.h b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.h
index 03cb787002..0289b3d2ff 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.h
+++ b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.h
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ class APIConnection final : public APIServerConnection {
 #endif
 
 #ifdef USE_EVENT
-  void send_event(event::Event *event, std::string_view event_type);
+  void send_event(event::Event *event, StringRef event_type);
 #endif
 
 #ifdef USE_UPDATE
@@ -469,7 +469,7 @@ class APIConnection final : public APIServerConnection {
                                              bool is_single);
 #endif
 #ifdef USE_EVENT
-  static uint16_t try_send_event_response(event::Event *event, std::string_view event_type, APIConnection *conn,
+  static uint16_t try_send_event_response(event::Event *event, StringRef event_type, APIConnection *conn,
                                           uint32_t remaining_size, bool is_single);
   static uint16_t try_send_event_info(EntityBase *entity, APIConnection *conn, uint32_t remaining_size, bool is_single);
 #endif
diff --git a/esphome/components/event/event.h b/esphome/components/event/event.h
index a8f0b872a3..27700e32d8 100644
--- a/esphome/components/event/event.h
+++ b/esphome/components/event/event.h
@@ -2,12 +2,12 @@
 
 #include <cstring>
 #include <string>
-#include <string_view>
 #include <vector>
 
 #include "esphome/core/component.h"
 #include "esphome/core/entity_base.h"
 #include "esphome/core/helpers.h"
+#include "esphome/core/string_ref.h"
 
 namespace esphome {
 namespace event {
@@ -45,10 +45,8 @@ class Event : public EntityBase, public EntityBase_DeviceClass {
   /// Return the event types supported by this event.
   const FixedVector<const char *> &get_event_types() const { return this->types_; }
 
-  /// Return the last triggered event type, or empty string_view if no event triggered yet.
-  std::string_view get_last_event_type() const {
-    return this->last_event_type_ != nullptr ? std::string_view(this->last_event_type_) : std::string_view();
-  }
+  /// Return the last triggered event type, or empty StringRef if no event triggered yet.
+  StringRef get_last_event_type() const { return StringRef::from_maybe_nullptr(this->last_event_type_); }
 
   /// Check if an event has been triggered.
   bool has_event() const { return this->last_event_type_ != nullptr; }
diff --git a/esphome/components/prometheus/prometheus_handler.cpp b/esphome/components/prometheus/prometheus_handler.cpp
index 81bbcb423c..c6f5751420 100644
--- a/esphome/components/prometheus/prometheus_handler.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/prometheus/prometheus_handler.cpp
@@ -618,8 +618,8 @@ void PrometheusHandler::event_row_(AsyncResponseStream *stream, event::Event *ob
     stream->print(ESPHOME_F("\",name=\""));
     stream->print(relabel_name_(obj).c_str());
     stream->print(ESPHOME_F("\",last_event_type=\""));
-    // get_last_event_type() returns string_view; data() is safe as event types are null-terminated
-    stream->print(obj->get_last_event_type().data());
+    // get_last_event_type() returns StringRef pointing to null-terminated string literals from codegen
+    stream->print(obj->get_last_event_type().c_str());
     stream->print(ESPHOME_F("\"} "));
     stream->print(ESPHOME_F("1.0"));
     stream->print(ESPHOME_F("\n"));
diff --git a/tests/components/event/common.yaml b/tests/components/event/common.yaml
index 26caabac5c..555d049c70 100644
--- a/tests/components/event/common.yaml
+++ b/tests/components/event/common.yaml
@@ -8,13 +8,13 @@ event:
     on_event:
       - logger.log: Event fired
       - lambda: |-
-          // Test get_last_event_type() returns std::string_view
+          // Test get_last_event_type() returns StringRef
           if (id(some_event).has_event()) {
             auto event_type = id(some_event).get_last_event_type();
             // Compare with string literal using ==
             if (event_type == "template_event_type1") {
               ESP_LOGD("test", "Event type is template_event_type1");
             }
-            // Log using %.*s format for string_view
-            ESP_LOGD("test", "Event type: %.*s", (int) event_type.size(), event_type.data());
+            // Log using %.*s format for StringRef
+            ESP_LOGD("test", "Event type: %.*s", (int) event_type.size(), event_type.c_str());
           }