diff --git a/django/http/response.py b/django/http/response.py
index abe71718f2..1dbaf46add 100644
--- a/django/http/response.py
+++ b/django/http/response.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ from django.http.cookie import SimpleCookie
 from django.utils import timezone
 from django.utils.datastructures import CaseInsensitiveMapping
 from django.utils.encoding import iri_to_uri
+from django.utils.functional import cached_property
 from django.utils.http import content_disposition_header, http_date
 from django.utils.regex_helper import _lazy_re_compile
 
@@ -408,6 +409,11 @@ class HttpResponse(HttpResponseBase):
             content = self.make_bytes(value)
         # Create a list of properly encoded bytestrings to support write().
         self._container = [content]
+        self.__dict__.pop("text", None)
+
+    @cached_property
+    def text(self):
+        return self.content.decode(self.charset or "utf-8")
 
     def __iter__(self):
         return iter(self._container)
@@ -460,6 +466,12 @@ class StreamingHttpResponse(HttpResponseBase):
             "`streaming_content` instead." % self.__class__.__name__
         )
 
+    @property
+    def text(self):
+        raise AttributeError(
+            "This %s instance has no `text` attribute." % self.__class__.__name__
+        )
+
     @property
     def streaming_content(self):
         if self.is_async:
diff --git a/docs/ref/request-response.txt b/docs/ref/request-response.txt
index 31111a435a..afebd00d8b 100644
--- a/docs/ref/request-response.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/request-response.txt
@@ -833,6 +833,13 @@ Attributes
 
     A bytestring representing the content, encoded from a string if necessary.
 
+.. attribute:: HttpResponse.text
+
+    .. versionadded:: 5.2
+
+    A string representation of :attr:`HttpResponse.content`, decoded using the
+    response's :attr:`HttpResponse.charset` (defaulting to ``UTF-8`` if empty).
+
 .. attribute:: HttpResponse.cookies
 
     A :py:obj:`http.cookies.SimpleCookie` object holding the cookies included
@@ -1272,6 +1279,9 @@ with the following notable differences:
   :attr:`~StreamingHttpResponse.streaming_content` attribute. This can be used
   in middleware to wrap the response iterable, but should not be consumed.
 
+* It has no ``text`` attribute, as it would require iterating the response
+  object.
+
 * You cannot use the file-like object ``tell()`` or ``write()`` methods.
   Doing so will raise an exception.
 
diff --git a/docs/releases/5.2.txt b/docs/releases/5.2.txt
index 806abfa26d..9090f8b70a 100644
--- a/docs/releases/5.2.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/5.2.txt
@@ -268,6 +268,9 @@ Models
 Requests and Responses
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
+* The new :attr:`.HttpResponse.text` property provides the string representation
+  of :attr:`.HttpResponse.content`.
+
 * The new :meth:`.HttpRequest.get_preferred_type` method can be used to query
   the preferred media type the client accepts.
 
diff --git a/tests/httpwrappers/tests.py b/tests/httpwrappers/tests.py
index 2197c6f7ea..154e9517fe 100644
--- a/tests/httpwrappers/tests.py
+++ b/tests/httpwrappers/tests.py
@@ -530,6 +530,22 @@ class HttpResponseTests(SimpleTestCase):
                 headers={"Content-Type": "text/csv"},
             )
 
+    def test_text_updates_when_content_updates(self):
+        response = HttpResponse("Hello, world!")
+        self.assertEqual(response.text, "Hello, world!")
+        response.content = "Updated content"
+        self.assertEqual(response.text, "Updated content")
+
+    def test_text_charset(self):
+        for content_type, content in [
+            (None, b"Ol\xc3\xa1 Mundo"),
+            ("text/plain; charset=utf-8", b"Ol\xc3\xa1 Mundo"),
+            ("text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1", b"Ol\xe1 Mundo"),
+        ]:
+            with self.subTest(content_type=content_type):
+                response = HttpResponse(content, content_type=content_type)
+                self.assertEqual(response.text, "Olá Mundo")
+
 
 class HttpResponseSubclassesTests(SimpleTestCase):
     def test_redirect(self):
@@ -756,6 +772,13 @@ class StreamingHttpResponseTests(SimpleTestCase):
         with self.assertWarnsMessage(Warning, msg):
             self.assertEqual(b"hello", await anext(aiter(r)))
 
+    def test_text_attribute_error(self):
+        r = StreamingHttpResponse(iter(["hello", "world"]))
+        msg = "This %s instance has no `text` attribute." % r.__class__.__name__
+
+        with self.assertRaisesMessage(AttributeError, msg):
+            r.text
+
 
 class FileCloseTests(SimpleTestCase):
     def setUp(self):