diff --git a/changelog/66313.changed.md b/changelog/66313.changed.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..aea304cbc79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/66313.changed.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Made gpg modules respect user's GNUPGHOME if set in shell environment
diff --git a/salt/modules/gpg.py b/salt/modules/gpg.py
index bc09631e5dd..8df4b7860b6 100644
--- a/salt/modules/gpg.py
+++ b/salt/modules/gpg.py
@@ -11,6 +11,13 @@ Sign, encrypt, sign plus encrypt and verify text and files.
     Be aware that the alternate ``gnupg`` and ``pretty-bad-protocol``
     libraries are not supported.
 
+.. versionchanged:: 3008.0
+
+    When ``gnupghome`` is not set explicitly, this module now tries to
+    respect a custom ``GNUPGHOME`` environmental variable.
+    If a ``user`` is not passed, the current process' environment is queried,
+    otherwise the user's configured shell environment is taken as a reference
+    in the same way the ``cmd`` modules operate.
 """
 
 import functools
@@ -23,6 +30,7 @@ import salt.utils.data
 import salt.utils.files
 import salt.utils.immutabletypes as immutabletypes
 import salt.utils.path
+import salt.utils.platform
 import salt.utils.stringutils
 import salt.utils.versions
 from salt.exceptions import SaltInvocationError
@@ -153,11 +161,25 @@ def _get_user_gnupghome(user):
     Return default GnuPG home directory path for a user
     """
     if user == "salt":
-        gnupghome = os.path.join(__salt__["config.get"]("config_dir"), "gpgkeys")
-    else:
-        gnupghome = os.path.join(_get_user_info(user)["home"], ".gnupg")
+        return os.path.join(__salt__["config.get"]("config_dir"), "gpgkeys")
 
-    return gnupghome
+    # Try to respect GNUPGHOME environment variable.
+    if user is None:
+        gnupghome_env = __salt__["environ.get"]("GNUPGHOME")
+    else:
+        cmd = 'echo -n "$GNUPGHOME"'
+        if salt.utils.platform.is_windows():
+            cmd = "echo %GNUPGHOME%"
+        gnupghome_env = __salt__["cmd.run_stdout"](
+            cmd, python_shell=True, runas=user
+        ).strip()
+        if gnupghome_env.startswith("~"):
+            # This does not resolve `~` since that potentially complicates things a lot.
+            # It should have been resolved by the shell anyways.
+            log.warning("Found GNUPGHOME beginning with tilde, ignoring")
+            gnupghome_env = ""
+
+    return gnupghome_env or os.path.join(_get_user_info(user)["home"], ".gnupg")
 
 
 def _restore_ownership(func):
diff --git a/tests/pytests/unit/modules/test_gpg.py b/tests/pytests/unit/modules/test_gpg.py
index c8b3bcac2c4..aca8b4d3b04 100644
--- a/tests/pytests/unit/modules/test_gpg.py
+++ b/tests/pytests/unit/modules/test_gpg.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import shutil
 import subprocess
 import time
 import types
+from pathlib import Path
 
 import psutil
 import pytest
@@ -204,7 +205,14 @@ def gpghome(tmp_path):
 
 @pytest.fixture
 def configure_loader_modules(gpghome):
-    return {gpg: {}}
+    return {
+        gpg: {
+            "__salt__": {
+                "environ.get": lambda *x: "",
+                "cmd.run_stdout": lambda *x, **y: "",
+            }
+        }
+    }
 
 
 def test_list_keys():
@@ -1101,7 +1109,9 @@ def _import_result_mock(request):
     indirect=True,
 )
 def test_gpg_receive_keys_no_user_id(_import_result_mock):
-    with patch("salt.modules.gpg._create_gpg") as create:
+    with patch("salt.modules.gpg._create_gpg") as create, patch(
+        "salt.modules.gpg._create_gnupghome"
+    ):
         with patch.dict(
             gpg.__salt__, {"user.info": MagicMock(), "config.option": Mock()}
         ):
@@ -1123,7 +1133,9 @@ def test_gpg_receive_keys_no_user_id(_import_result_mock):
     indirect=True,
 )
 def test_gpg_receive_keys_keyserver_unavailable(_import_result_mock):
-    with patch("salt.modules.gpg._create_gpg") as create:
+    with patch("salt.modules.gpg._create_gpg") as create, patch(
+        "salt.modules.gpg._create_gnupghome"
+    ):
         with patch.dict(
             gpg.__salt__, {"user.info": MagicMock(), "config.option": Mock()}
         ):
@@ -1131,3 +1143,42 @@ def test_gpg_receive_keys_keyserver_unavailable(_import_result_mock):
             res = gpg.receive_keys(keys="abc", user="abc")
             assert res["res"] is False
             assert any("No keyserver available" in x for x in res["message"])
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "user,envvar",
+    (
+        ("testuser", ""),
+        ("testuser", "/home/testuser/local/share/gnupg"),
+        (None, ""),
+        (None, "/home/testuser/local/share/gnupg"),
+        ("salt", ""),
+        ("salt", "/this/should/not/matter"),
+    ),
+)
+def test_get_user_gnupghome_respects_shell_env_setup(user, envvar):
+    config_dir = "/etc/salt"  # minion_opts["config_dir"] is not set, only conf_dir (?)
+    user = user or "testuser"
+    if user == "salt":
+        homedir = "/opt/saltstack/salt"
+        expected = str(Path(config_dir) / "gpgkeys")
+    else:
+        homedir = f"/home/{user}"
+        expected = envvar or str(Path(homedir) / ".gnupg")
+    userinfo = {
+        "home": homedir,
+        "uid": 1000,
+        "gid": 1000,
+        "shell": "/bin/bash",
+    }
+    with patch.dict(
+        gpg.__salt__,
+        {
+            "user.info": lambda *x: userinfo,
+            "environ.get": lambda *x: envvar,
+            "cmd.run_stdout": lambda *x, **y: envvar,
+            "config.get": lambda *x: config_dir,
+        },
+    ):
+        res = gpg._get_user_gnupghome(user)
+    assert res == expected