diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-09-01-03-05-22.gh-issue-156748.B0Z47w.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-09-01-03-05-22.gh-issue-156748.B0Z47w.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..338258636602440
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-09-01-03-05-22.gh-issue-156748.B0Z47w.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Optimize refcount churn in _csv.
diff --git a/Modules/_csv.c b/Modules/_csv.c
index c640f2d36a84647..eb4bdc4af89e302 100644
--- a/Modules/_csv.c
+++ b/Modules/_csv.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ module instead.
 #endif
 
 #include "Python.h"
+#include "pycore_list.h"         // _PyList_AppendTakeRef()
 #include "pycore_pyatomic_ft_wrappers.h"
 
 #include <stddef.h>               // offsetof()
@@ -710,11 +711,9 @@ parse_save_field(ReaderObj *self)
         }
         self->field_len = 0;
     }
-    if (PyList_Append(self->fields, field) < 0) {
-        Py_DECREF(field);
+    if (_PyList_AppendTakeRef((PyListObject *)self->fields, field) < 0) {
         return -1;
     }
-    Py_DECREF(field);
     return 0;
 }