diff --git a/internal/transport/http2_client.go b/internal/transport/http2_client.go
index 0cd6da1e73f..ec6d4032e2d 100644
--- a/internal/transport/http2_client.go
+++ b/internal/transport/http2_client.go
@@ -1304,7 +1304,7 @@ func (t *http2Client) operateHeaders(frame *http2.MetaHeadersFrame) {
 		recvCompress   string
 		httpStatusCode *int
 		httpStatusErr  string
-		rawStatusCode  = codes.Unknown
+		rawStatusCode  *codes.Code
 		// headerError is set if an error is encountered while parsing the headers
 		headerError string
 	)
@@ -1326,13 +1326,14 @@ func (t *http2Client) operateHeaders(frame *http2.MetaHeadersFrame) {
 		case "grpc-encoding":
 			recvCompress = hf.Value
 		case "grpc-status":
-			code, err := strconv.ParseInt(hf.Value, 10, 32)
+			code, err := strconv.ParseUint(hf.Value, 10, 32)
 			if err != nil {
 				se := status.New(codes.Internal, fmt.Sprintf("transport: malformed grpc-status: %v", err))
 				t.closeStream(s, se.Err(), true, http2.ErrCodeProtocol, se, nil, endStream)
 				return
 			}
-			rawStatusCode = codes.Code(uint32(code))
+			rsc := codes.Code(uint32(code))
+			rawStatusCode = &rsc
 		case "grpc-message":
 			grpcMessage = decodeGrpcMessage(hf.Value)
 		case "grpc-status-details-bin":
@@ -1380,7 +1381,10 @@ func (t *http2Client) operateHeaders(frame *http2.MetaHeadersFrame) {
 	if !isGRPC || httpStatusErr != "" {
 		var code = codes.Internal // when header does not include HTTP status, return INTERNAL
 
-		if httpStatusCode != nil {
+		// grpc-status only takes precedence over http-status if everything else is ok.
+		if rawStatusCode != nil && contentTypeErr == "" && httpStatusErr == "" {
+			code = *rawStatusCode
+		} else if httpStatusCode != nil {
 			var ok bool
 			code, ok = HTTPStatusConvTab[*httpStatusCode]
 			if !ok {
@@ -1453,7 +1457,11 @@ func (t *http2Client) operateHeaders(frame *http2.MetaHeadersFrame) {
 	}
 
 	if statusGen == nil {
-		statusGen = status.New(rawStatusCode, grpcMessage)
+		rsc := codes.Unknown
+		if rawStatusCode != nil {
+			rsc = *rawStatusCode
+		}
+		statusGen = status.New(rsc, grpcMessage)
 	}
 
 	// if client received END_STREAM from server while stream was still active, send RST_STREAM
diff --git a/internal/transport/transport_test.go b/internal/transport/transport_test.go
index 28cace0ba5d..bc1a7b2d72f 100644
--- a/internal/transport/transport_test.go
+++ b/internal/transport/transport_test.go
@@ -2046,7 +2046,7 @@ func (s) TestClientDecodeHeaderStatusErr(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			wantStatus: status.New(
 				codes.Internal,
-				"transport: malformed grpc-status: strconv.ParseInt: parsing \"xxxx\": invalid syntax",
+				"transport: malformed grpc-status: strconv.ParseUint: parsing \"xxxx\": invalid syntax",
 			),
 		},
 		{
@@ -2090,7 +2090,7 @@ func (s) TestClientDecodeHeaderStatusErr(t *testing.T) {
 			metaHeaderFrame: &http2.MetaHeadersFrame{
 				Fields: []hpack.HeaderField{
 					{Name: "content-type", Value: "application/grpc"},
-					{Name: "grpc-status", Value: "0"},
+					{Name: "grpc-status", Value: "14"},
 					{Name: ":status", Value: "504"},
 				},
 			},
diff --git a/test/end2end_test.go b/test/end2end_test.go
index 5702f18bdb2..f81599273fb 100644
--- a/test/end2end_test.go
+++ b/test/end2end_test.go
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"reflect"
 	"runtime"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
@@ -7217,7 +7218,7 @@ func (s) TestHTTPHeaderFrameErrorHandlingHTTPMode(t *testing.T) {
 		doHTTPHeaderTest(t, transport.HTTPStatusConvTab[int(httpCode)], []string{
 			":status", fmt.Sprintf("%d", httpCode),
 			"content-type", "text/html", // non-gRPC content type to switch to HTTP mode.
-			"grpc-status", "1", // Make up a gRPC status error
+			"grpc-status", strconv.Itoa(int(transport.HTTPStatusConvTab[httpCode])),
 			"grpc-status-details-bin", "???", // Make up a gRPC field parsing error
 		})
 	}
@@ -7227,7 +7228,7 @@ func (s) TestHTTPHeaderFrameErrorHandlingHTTPMode(t *testing.T) {
 		doHTTPHeaderTest(t, transport.HTTPStatusConvTab[int(httpCode)], []string{
 			":status", fmt.Sprintf("%d", httpCode),
 			// Omitting content type to switch to HTTP mode.
-			"grpc-status", "1", // Make up a gRPC status error
+			"grpc-status", strconv.Itoa(int(transport.HTTPStatusConvTab[httpCode])),
 			"grpc-status-details-bin", "???", // Make up a gRPC field parsing error
 		})
 	}
@@ -7236,7 +7237,7 @@ func (s) TestHTTPHeaderFrameErrorHandlingHTTPMode(t *testing.T) {
 	doHTTPHeaderTest(t, codes.Internal, []string{
 		":status", "abc",
 		// Omitting content type to switch to HTTP mode.
-		"grpc-status", "1", // Make up a gRPC status error
+		"grpc-status", "13", // Make up a gRPC status error
 		"grpc-status-details-bin", "???", // Make up a gRPC field parsing error
 	})
 }
@@ -7269,7 +7270,7 @@ func (s) TestHTTPHeaderFrameErrorHandlingInitialHeader(t *testing.T) {
 			header: []string{
 				":status", "502",
 				"content-type", "application/grpc",
-				"grpc-status", "0",
+				"grpc-status", "14",
 				"grpc-tags-bin", "???",
 			},
 			errCode: codes.Unavailable,
@@ -7279,7 +7280,7 @@ func (s) TestHTTPHeaderFrameErrorHandlingInitialHeader(t *testing.T) {
 			header: []string{
 				":status", "502",
 				"content-type", "application/grpc",
-				"grpc-status", "3",
+				"grpc-status", "14",
 			},
 			errCode: codes.Unavailable,
 		},