diff --git a/Lib/logging/__init__.py b/Lib/logging/__init__.py
index 15d5ac281791839..2675c487afab43f 100644
--- a/Lib/logging/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/logging/__init__.py
@@ -1356,6 +1356,8 @@ def __init__(self, rootnode):
         self.disable = 0
         self.emittedNoHandlerWarning = False
         self.loggerDict = {}
+        # Loggers whose isEnabledFor cache may be populated; see _clear_cache.
+        self._cached_loggers = weakref.WeakSet()
         self.loggerClass = None
         self.logRecordFactory = None
 
@@ -1471,9 +1473,11 @@ def _clear_cache(self):
         """
 
         with _lock:
-            for logger in self.loggerDict.values():
-                if isinstance(logger, Logger):
-                    logger._cache.clear()
+            # Only loggers that have populated a cache are visited, so
+            # setLevel() costs O(loggers with cached results), not O(loggers).
+            for logger in self._cached_loggers:
+                logger._cache.clear()
+            self._cached_loggers.clear()
             self.root._cache.clear()
 
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -1799,6 +1803,7 @@ def isEnabledFor(self, level):
             return self._cache[level]
         except KeyError:
             with _lock:
+                self.manager._cached_loggers.add(self)
                 if self.manager.disable >= level:
                     is_enabled = self._cache[level] = False
                 else:
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_logging.py b/Lib/test/test_logging.py
index c45d8ea7901b80d..abd3b21ef5e9b58 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_logging.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_logging.py
@@ -6398,6 +6398,38 @@ def test_pickling(self):
                 unpickled = pickle.loads(s)
                 self.assertIs(unpickled, logger)
 
+    def test_caching_unregistered_logger(self):
+        # A logger that is not in loggerDict must not keep a stale cache.
+        self.addCleanup(logging.root.manager._clear_cache)
+        logger = logging.Logger("unregistered")
+        self.assertEqual(logger._cache, {})
+        logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+        self.assertEqual(logger._cache, {})
+        self.assertTrue(logger.isEnabledFor(logging.DEBUG))
+        self.assertEqual(logger._cache, {logging.DEBUG: True})
+        logger.setLevel(logging.ERROR)
+        self.assertEqual(logger._cache, {})
+        self.assertFalse(logger.isEnabledFor(logging.DEBUG))
+        self.assertEqual(logger._cache, {logging.DEBUG: False})
+
+    def test_clear_cache_empties_cached_loggers(self):
+        manager = logging.root.manager
+        self.addCleanup(manager._clear_cache)
+        registered = logging.getLogger("cached.registered")
+        unregistered = logging.Logger("cached.unregistered")
+        # Start from a known state: other tests may have cached results.
+        manager._clear_cache()
+        self.assertEqual(len(manager._cached_loggers), 0)
+        for logger in (registered, unregistered):
+            logger.isEnabledFor(logging.DEBUG)
+            self.assertIn(logger, manager._cached_loggers)
+        self.assertEqual(len(manager._cached_loggers), 2)
+        registered.setLevel(logging.INFO)
+        self.assertEqual(len(manager._cached_loggers), 0)
+        # A later cache miss starts tracking the logger again.
+        registered.isEnabledFor(logging.DEBUG)
+        self.assertEqual(list(manager._cached_loggers), [registered])
+
     def test_caching(self):
         root = self.root_logger
         logger1 = logging.getLogger("abc")
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-10-29-20-30-00.gh-issue-160936.lgCach.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-10-29-20-30-00.gh-issue-160936.lgCach.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..888e9cfa88c5295
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-10-29-20-30-00.gh-issue-160936.lgCach.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Speed up :meth:`logging.Logger.setLevel` and :func:`logging.disable` when
+there are many loggers: only loggers that have cached results are now cleared,
+instead of every logger. This also clears the cache of loggers that are not
+registered with the manager, which could previously keep a stale result.