diff --git a/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py b/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py
index 98ed395f10e..a716e465450 100644
--- a/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py
+++ b/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ class EntityCategory(StrEnum):
 
 
 def convert_to_entity_category(
-    value: EntityCategory | str | None,
+    value: EntityCategory | str | None, raise_report: bool = True
 ) -> EntityCategory | None:
     """Force incoming entity_category to be an enum."""
 
@@ -210,11 +210,13 @@ def convert_to_entity_category(
         return value
 
     if not isinstance(value, EntityCategory):
-        report(
-            "An entity_category should only be assigned an enum.  Strings or other assignments are deprecated. Value %s is type %s"
-            % (value, type(value)),
-            error_if_core=False,
-        )
+        if raise_report:
+            report(
+                "uses %s (%s) for entity category. This is deprecated and will "
+                "stop working in Home Assistant 2022.4, it should be updated to use "
+                "EntityCategory instead" % (type(value).__name__, value),
+                error_if_core=False,
+            )
         return EntityCategory(value)
     return value
 
diff --git a/homeassistant/helpers/entity_registry.py b/homeassistant/helpers/entity_registry.py
index 358f0156c86..36ac5cc3dde 100644
--- a/homeassistant/helpers/entity_registry.py
+++ b/homeassistant/helpers/entity_registry.py
@@ -94,13 +94,13 @@ DISABLED_USER = RegistryEntryDisabler.USER.value
 
 
 def _convert_to_entity_category(
-    value: EntityCategory | str | None,
+    value: EntityCategory | str | None, raise_report: bool = True
 ) -> EntityCategory | None:
     """Force incoming entity_category to be an enum."""
     # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
     from .entity import convert_to_entity_category
 
-    return convert_to_entity_category(value)
+    return convert_to_entity_category(value, raise_report=raise_report)
 
 
 @attr.s(slots=True, frozen=True)
@@ -398,7 +398,7 @@ class EntityRegistry:
             config_entry_id=config_entry_id,
             device_id=device_id,
             disabled_by=disabled_by,
-            entity_category=entity_category,
+            entity_category=_convert_to_entity_category(entity_category),
             entity_id=entity_id,
             original_device_class=original_device_class,
             original_icon=original_icon,
@@ -628,7 +628,9 @@ class EntityRegistry:
                     disabled_by=RegistryEntryDisabler(entity["disabled_by"])
                     if entity["disabled_by"]
                     else None,
-                    entity_category=entity["entity_category"],
+                    entity_category=_convert_to_entity_category(
+                        entity["entity_category"], raise_report=False
+                    ),
                     entity_id=entity["entity_id"],
                     icon=entity["icon"],
                     id=entity["id"],