diff --git a/components/locid/src/extensions/unicode/value.rs b/components/locid/src/extensions/unicode/value.rs
index 31bb478346b..94f57ac8532 100644
--- a/components/locid/src/extensions/unicode/value.rs
+++ b/components/locid/src/extensions/unicode/value.rs
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 // called LICENSE at the top level of the ICU4X source tree
 // (online at: https://github.com/unicode-org/icu4x/blob/main/LICENSE ).
 
+use crate::helpers::ShortVec;
 use crate::parser::{get_subtag_iterator, ParserError};
-use alloc::vec;
 use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use core::ops::RangeInclusive;
 use core::str::FromStr;
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ use tinystr::TinyAsciiStr;
 /// assert_eq!(&value2.to_string(), "islamic-civil");
 /// ```
 #[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Clone, Hash, PartialOrd, Ord)]
-pub struct Value(Vec<TinyAsciiStr<{ *VALUE_LENGTH.end() }>>);
+pub struct Value(ShortVec<TinyAsciiStr<{ *VALUE_LENGTH.end() }>>);
 
 const VALUE_LENGTH: RangeInclusive<usize> = 3..=8;
 const TRUE_VALUE: TinyAsciiStr<8> = tinystr::tinystr!(8, "true");
@@ -51,16 +51,12 @@ impl Value {
     /// assert_eq!(&value.to_string(), "buddhist");
     /// ```
     pub fn from_bytes(input: &[u8]) -> Result<Self, ParserError> {
-        let mut v = vec![];
+        let mut v = ShortVec::new();
 
         if !input.is_empty() {
             for subtag in get_subtag_iterator(input) {
-                if !Self::is_type_subtag(subtag) {
-                    return Err(ParserError::InvalidExtension);
-                }
-                let val =
-                    TinyAsciiStr::from_bytes(subtag).map_err(|_| ParserError::InvalidExtension)?;
-                if val != TRUE_VALUE {
+                let val = Self::subtag_from_bytes(subtag)?;
+                if let Some(val) = val {
                     v.push(val);
                 }
             }
@@ -68,12 +64,50 @@ impl Value {
         Ok(Self(v))
     }
 
+    /// Const constructor for when the value contains only a single subtag.
+    ///
+    /// # Examples
+    ///
+    /// ```
+    /// use icu::locid::extensions::unicode::Value;
+    ///
+    /// Value::try_from_single_subtag(b"buddhist").expect("valid subtag");
+    /// Value::try_from_single_subtag(b"#####").expect_err("invalid subtag");
+    /// Value::try_from_single_subtag(b"foo-bar").expect_err("not a single subtag");
+    /// ```
+    pub const fn try_from_single_subtag(subtag: &[u8]) -> Result<Self, ParserError> {
+        match Self::subtag_from_bytes(subtag) {
+            Err(_) => Err(ParserError::InvalidExtension),
+            Ok(option) => Ok(Self::from_tinystr(option)),
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[doc(hidden)]
+    pub const fn from_tinystr(subtag: Option<TinyAsciiStr<8>>) -> Self {
+        match subtag {
+            None => Self(ShortVec::new()),
+            Some(val) => {
+                debug_assert!(val.is_ascii_alphanumeric());
+                debug_assert!(!matches!(val, TRUE_VALUE));
+                Self(ShortVec::new_single(val))
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     pub(crate) fn from_vec_unchecked(input: Vec<TinyAsciiStr<8>>) -> Self {
-        Self(input)
+        Self(input.into())
     }
 
-    pub(crate) fn is_type_subtag(t: &[u8]) -> bool {
-        VALUE_LENGTH.contains(&t.len()) && !t.iter().any(|c: &u8| !c.is_ascii_alphanumeric())
+    #[doc(hidden)]
+    pub const fn subtag_from_bytes(bytes: &[u8]) -> Result<Option<TinyAsciiStr<8>>, ParserError> {
+        if *VALUE_LENGTH.start() > bytes.len() || *VALUE_LENGTH.end() < bytes.len() {
+            return Err(ParserError::InvalidExtension);
+        };
+        match TinyAsciiStr::from_bytes(bytes) {
+            Ok(TRUE_VALUE) => Ok(None),
+            Ok(val) if val.is_ascii_alphanumeric() => Ok(Some(val)),
+            _ => Err(ParserError::InvalidExtension),
+        }
     }
 
     pub(crate) fn parse_subtag(t: &[u8]) -> Result<Option<TinyAsciiStr<8>>, ParserError> {
@@ -95,7 +129,7 @@ impl Value {
     where
         F: FnMut(&str) -> Result<(), E>,
     {
-        self.0.iter().map(|t| t.as_str()).try_for_each(f)
+        self.0.as_slice().iter().map(|t| t.as_str()).try_for_each(f)
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/components/locid/src/helpers.rs b/components/locid/src/helpers.rs
index 61db97fea87..2c50f710828 100644
--- a/components/locid/src/helpers.rs
+++ b/components/locid/src/helpers.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,60 @@
 // called LICENSE at the top level of the ICU4X source tree
 // (online at: https://github.com/unicode-org/icu4x/blob/main/LICENSE ).
 
+use alloc::vec;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
+
+/// Internal: A vector that supports no-allocation, constant values if length 0 or 1.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq, Hash, PartialOrd, Ord)]
+pub(crate) enum ShortVec<T> {
+    Empty,
+    Single(T),
+    Multi(Vec<T>),
+}
+
+impl<T> ShortVec<T> {
+    #[inline]
+    pub const fn new() -> Self {
+        Self::Empty
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    pub const fn new_single(item: T) -> Self {
+        Self::Single(item)
+    }
+
+    pub fn push(&mut self, item: T) {
+        *self = match core::mem::replace(self, Self::Empty) {
+            ShortVec::Empty => ShortVec::Single(item),
+            ShortVec::Single(prev_item) => ShortVec::Multi(vec![prev_item, item]),
+            ShortVec::Multi(mut items) => {
+                items.push(item);
+                ShortVec::Multi(items)
+            }
+        };
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn as_slice(&self) -> &[T] {
+        match self {
+            ShortVec::Empty => &[],
+            ShortVec::Single(v) => core::slice::from_ref(v),
+            ShortVec::Multi(v) => v.as_slice(),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T> From<Vec<T>> for ShortVec<T> {
+    fn from(v: Vec<T>) -> Self {
+        match v.len() {
+            0 => ShortVec::Empty,
+            #[allow(clippy::unwrap_used)] // we know that the vec is not empty
+            1 => ShortVec::Single(v.into_iter().next().unwrap()),
+            _ => ShortVec::Multi(v),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 macro_rules! impl_writeable_for_single_subtag {
     ($type:tt, $sample:literal) => {
         impl core::fmt::Display for $type {
diff --git a/components/locid/src/macros.rs b/components/locid/src/macros.rs
index 3b72890c9ff..830f24686ef 100644
--- a/components/locid/src/macros.rs
+++ b/components/locid/src/macros.rs
@@ -265,6 +265,52 @@ macro_rules! unicode_ext_key {
     }};
 }
 
+/// A macro allowing for compile-time construction of valid Unicode [`Value`] subtag.
+///
+/// The macro only supports single-subtag values.
+///
+/// # Examples
+///
+/// ```
+/// use icu::locid::{unicode_ext_key, unicode_ext_value};
+/// use icu::locid::extensions::unicode::{Key, Value};
+/// use icu::locid::Locale;
+/// use writeable::Writeable;
+///
+/// const CALENDAR_KEY: Key = unicode_ext_key!("ca");
+/// const CALENDAR_VALUE: Value = unicode_ext_value!("buddhist");
+///
+/// let loc: Locale = "de-u-ca-buddhist".parse().unwrap();
+///
+/// assert_eq!(
+///     loc.extensions.unicode.keywords.get(&CALENDAR_KEY),
+///     Some(&CALENDAR_VALUE)
+/// );
+/// ```
+///
+/// [`Value`]: crate::extensions::unicode::Value
+#[macro_export]
+macro_rules! unicode_ext_value {
+    ($value:literal) => {{
+        // What we want:
+        // const R: $crate::extensions::unicode::Value =
+        //     match $crate::extensions::unicode::Value::try_from_single_subtag($value.as_bytes()) {
+        //         Ok(r) => r,
+        //         #[allow(clippy::panic)] // const context
+        //         _ => panic!(concat!("Invalid Unicode extension value: ", $value)),
+        //     };
+        // Workaround until https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/73255 lands:
+        const R: $crate::extensions::unicode::Value =
+            $crate::extensions::unicode::Value::from_tinystr(
+                match $crate::extensions::unicode::Value::subtag_from_bytes($value.as_bytes()) {
+                    Ok(r) => r,
+                    _ => panic!(concat!("Invalid Unicode extension value: ", $value)),
+                },
+            );
+        R
+    }};
+}
+
 /// A macro allowing for compile-time construction of valid Transform [`Key`] subtag.
 ///
 /// The macro will perform syntax canonicalization of the tag.