diff --git a/pandas/_libs/hashtable_func_helper.pxi.in b/pandas/_libs/hashtable_func_helper.pxi.in
index fdb77a56541de..9744b7f67502f 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/hashtable_func_helper.pxi.in
+++ b/pandas/_libs/hashtable_func_helper.pxi.in
@@ -114,7 +114,15 @@ cdef value_count_{{dtype}}(const {{dtype}}_t[:] values, bint dropna, const uint8
         result_counts[i] = table.vals[k]
 
     if na_counter > 0:
-        assert n > 0  # val will be uninitialized without this
+        # gcc-11.4 on ubuntu 22.04 cannot see that val won't be unassigned
+        # when we make it into this branch
+        assert n > 0
+        {{if dtype == 'object'}}
+        val = values[n - 1]
+        {{else}}
+        val = {{to_c_type}}(values[n - 1])
+        {{endif}}
+
         result_counts[table.size] = na_counter
         result_keys.append(val)