diff --git a/changes/4406-acmiyaguchi.md b/changes/4406-acmiyaguchi.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c7028c4d15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/4406-acmiyaguchi.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Allow for custom parsing of environment variables via `parse_env_var` in `Config`.
diff --git a/docs/examples/settings_with_custom_parsing.py b/docs/examples/settings_with_custom_parsing.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9de25643e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/examples/settings_with_custom_parsing.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+import os
+from typing import Any, List
+
+from pydantic import BaseSettings
+
+
+class Settings(BaseSettings):
+    numbers: List[int]
+
+    class Config:
+        @classmethod
+        def parse_env_var(cls, field_name: str, raw_val: str) -> Any:
+            if field_name == 'numbers':
+                return [int(x) for x in raw_val.split(',')]
+            return cls.json_loads(raw_val)
+
+
+os.environ['numbers'] = '1,2,3'
+print(Settings().dict())
diff --git a/docs/usage/settings.md b/docs/usage/settings.md
index 1ba926f6eb..7268e9f0fa 100644
--- a/docs/usage/settings.md
+++ b/docs/usage/settings.md
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ export SUB_MODEL__DEEP__V4=v4
 You could load a settings module thus:
 {!.tmp_examples/settings_nested_env.md!}
 
-`env_nested_delimiter` can be configured via the `Config` class as shown above, or via the 
+`env_nested_delimiter` can be configured via the `Config` class as shown above, or via the
 `_env_nested_delimiter` keyword argument on instantiation.
 
 JSON is only parsed in top-level fields, if you need to parse JSON in sub-models, you will need to implement
@@ -96,6 +96,11 @@ validators on those models.
 Nested environment variables take precedence over the top-level environment variable JSON
 (e.g. in the example above, `SUB_MODEL__V2` trumps `SUB_MODEL`).
 
+You may also populate a complex type by providing your own parsing function to
+the `parse_env_var` classmethod in the Config object.
+
+{!.tmp_examples/settings_with_custom_parsing.md!}
+
 ## Dotenv (.env) support
 
 !!! note
@@ -178,7 +183,7 @@ see [python-dotenv's documentation](https://saurabh-kumar.com/python-dotenv/#usa
 
 Placing secret values in files is a common pattern to provide sensitive configuration to an application.
 
-A secret file follows the same principal as a dotenv file except it only contains a single value and the file name 
+A secret file follows the same principal as a dotenv file except it only contains a single value and the file name
 is used as the key. A secret file will look like the following:
 
 `/var/run/database_password`:
@@ -231,7 +236,7 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
         secrets_dir = '/run/secrets'
 ```
 !!! note
-    By default Docker uses `/run/secrets` as the target mount point. If you want to use a different location, change 
+    By default Docker uses `/run/secrets` as the target mount point. If you want to use a different location, change
     `Config.secrets_dir` accordingly.
 
 Then, create your secret via the Docker CLI
diff --git a/pydantic/env_settings.py b/pydantic/env_settings.py
index 6be4b8e710..7587a1f50c 100644
--- a/pydantic/env_settings.py
+++ b/pydantic/env_settings.py
@@ -126,6 +126,10 @@ def customise_sources(
         ) -> Tuple[SettingsSourceCallable, ...]:
             return init_settings, env_settings, file_secret_settings
 
+        @classmethod
+        def parse_env_var(cls, field_name: str, raw_val: str) -> Any:
+            return cls.json_loads(raw_val)
+
     # populated by the metaclass using the Config class defined above, annotated here to help IDEs only
     __config__: ClassVar[Type[Config]]
 
@@ -180,7 +184,7 @@ def __call__(self, settings: BaseSettings) -> Dict[str, Any]:  # noqa C901
                 if env_val is not None:
                     break
 
-            is_complex, allow_json_failure = self.field_is_complex(field)
+            is_complex, allow_parse_failure = self.field_is_complex(field)
             if is_complex:
                 if env_val is None:
                     # field is complex but no value found so far, try explode_env_vars
@@ -190,10 +194,10 @@ def __call__(self, settings: BaseSettings) -> Dict[str, Any]:  # noqa C901
                 else:
                     # field is complex and there's a value, decode that as JSON, then add explode_env_vars
                     try:
-                        env_val = settings.__config__.json_loads(env_val)
+                        env_val = settings.__config__.parse_env_var(field.name, env_val)
                     except ValueError as e:
-                        if not allow_json_failure:
-                            raise SettingsError(f'error parsing JSON for "{env_name}"') from e
+                        if not allow_parse_failure:
+                            raise SettingsError(f'error parsing env var "{env_name}"') from e
 
                     if isinstance(env_val, dict):
                         d[field.alias] = deep_update(env_val, self.explode_env_vars(field, env_vars))
@@ -228,13 +232,13 @@ def field_is_complex(self, field: ModelField) -> Tuple[bool, bool]:
         Find out if a field is complex, and if so whether JSON errors should be ignored
         """
         if field.is_complex():
-            allow_json_failure = False
+            allow_parse_failure = False
         elif is_union(get_origin(field.type_)) and field.sub_fields and any(f.is_complex() for f in field.sub_fields):
-            allow_json_failure = True
+            allow_parse_failure = True
         else:
             return False, False
 
-        return True, allow_json_failure
+        return True, allow_parse_failure
 
     def explode_env_vars(self, field: ModelField, env_vars: Mapping[str, Optional[str]]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         """
@@ -299,9 +303,9 @@ def __call__(self, settings: BaseSettings) -> Dict[str, Any]:
                     secret_value = path.read_text().strip()
                     if field.is_complex():
                         try:
-                            secret_value = settings.__config__.json_loads(secret_value)
+                            secret_value = settings.__config__.parse_env_var(field.name, secret_value)
                         except ValueError as e:
-                            raise SettingsError(f'error parsing JSON for "{env_name}"') from e
+                            raise SettingsError(f'error parsing env var "{env_name}"') from e
 
                     secrets[field.alias] = secret_value
                 else:
diff --git a/tests/test_settings.py b/tests/test_settings.py
index e08fd08b6a..d61e6209bc 100644
--- a/tests/test_settings.py
+++ b/tests/test_settings.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 import uuid
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Set, Tuple, Union
+from typing import Any, Callable, Dict, List, Optional, Set, Tuple, Union
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ def test_set_dict_model(env):
 
 def test_invalid_json(env):
     env.set('apples', '["russet", "granny smith",]')
-    with pytest.raises(SettingsError, match='error parsing JSON for "apples"'):
+    with pytest.raises(SettingsError, match='error parsing env var "apples"'):
         ComplexSettings()
 
 
@@ -1054,7 +1054,7 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
         class Config:
             secrets_dir = tmp_path
 
-    with pytest.raises(SettingsError, match='error parsing JSON for "foo"'):
+    with pytest.raises(SettingsError, match='error parsing env var "foo"'):
         Settings()
 
 
@@ -1215,3 +1215,66 @@ def test_builtins_settings_source_repr():
         == "EnvSettingsSource(env_file='.env', env_file_encoding='utf-8', env_nested_delimiter=None)"
     )
     assert repr(SecretsSettingsSource(secrets_dir='/secrets')) == "SecretsSettingsSource(secrets_dir='/secrets')"
+
+
+def _parse_custom_dict(value: str) -> Callable[[str], Dict[int, str]]:
+    """A custom parsing function passed into env parsing test."""
+    res = {}
+    for part in value.split(','):
+        k, v = part.split('=')
+        res[int(k)] = v
+    return res
+
+
+def test_env_setting_source_custom_env_parse(env):
+    class Settings(BaseSettings):
+        top: Dict[int, str]
+
+        class Config:
+            @classmethod
+            def parse_env_var(cls, field_name: str, raw_val: str):
+                if field_name == 'top':
+                    return _parse_custom_dict(raw_val)
+                return cls.json_loads(raw_val)
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValidationError):
+        Settings()
+    env.set('top', '1=apple,2=banana')
+    s = Settings()
+    assert s.top == {1: 'apple', 2: 'banana'}
+
+
+def test_env_settings_source_custom_env_parse_is_bad(env):
+    class Settings(BaseSettings):
+        top: Dict[int, str]
+
+        class Config:
+            @classmethod
+            def parse_env_var(cls, field_name: str, raw_val: str):
+                if field_name == 'top':
+                    return int(raw_val)
+                return cls.json_loads(raw_val)
+
+    env.set('top', '1=apple,2=banana')
+    with pytest.raises(SettingsError, match='error parsing env var "top"'):
+        Settings()
+
+
+def test_secret_settings_source_custom_env_parse(tmp_path):
+    p = tmp_path / 'top'
+    p.write_text('1=apple,2=banana')
+
+    class Settings(BaseSettings):
+        top: Dict[int, str]
+
+        class Config:
+            secrets_dir = tmp_path
+
+            @classmethod
+            def parse_env_var(cls, field_name: str, raw_val: str):
+                if field_name == 'top':
+                    return _parse_custom_dict(raw_val)
+                return cls.json_loads(raw_val)
+
+    s = Settings()
+    assert s.top == {1: 'apple', 2: 'banana'}