diff --git a/demo/collections/Localized.ts b/demo/collections/Localized.ts
index bb54821d64..d217e2c029 100644
--- a/demo/collections/Localized.ts
+++ b/demo/collections/Localized.ts
@@ -84,7 +84,6 @@ const LocalizedPosts: CollectionConfig = {
       name: 'priority',
       label: 'Priority',
       type: 'number',
-      required: true,
       localized: true,
     },
     {
diff --git a/src/collections/tests/collections.spec.js b/src/collections/tests/collections.spec.js
index ecd14c99d8..de178a4ec3 100644
--- a/src/collections/tests/collections.spec.js
+++ b/src/collections/tests/collections.spec.js
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ describe('Collections - REST', () => {
           description: updatedDesc,
           richText: updatedRichText,
           nonLocalizedArray: updatedNonLocalizedArray,
-          priority: 1,
+          priority: '',
         }),
         headers,
         method: 'put',
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ describe('Collections - REST', () => {
 
       expect(response.status).toBe(200);
       expect(data.doc.description).toBe(updatedDesc);
+      expect(data.doc.priority).not.toStrictEqual(1);
       expect(data.doc.nonLocalizedArray).toHaveLength(2);
       expect(data.doc.richText[0].children[0].text).toBe('english update');
 
diff --git a/src/fields/traverseFields.ts b/src/fields/traverseFields.ts
index 6fd7171fec..bdd5647b43 100644
--- a/src/fields/traverseFields.ts
+++ b/src/fields/traverseFields.ts
@@ -109,7 +109,8 @@ const traverseFields = (args: Arguments): void => {
     }
 
     if (field.type === 'number' && typeof data[field.name] === 'string') {
-      dataCopy[field.name] = parseFloat(data[field.name]);
+      const trimmed = data[field.name].trim();
+      dataCopy[field.name] = (trimmed.length === 0) ? null : parseFloat(trimmed);
     }
 
     if (fieldAffectsData(field) && field.name === 'id') {
@@ -173,7 +174,7 @@ const traverseFields = (args: Arguments): void => {
           let valueToSet;
 
           if (localeID === locale) {
-            if (data[field.name]) {
+            if (typeof data[field.name] !== 'undefined') {
               valueToSet = data[field.name];
             } else if (docWithLocales?.[field.name]?.[localeID]) {
               valueToSet = docWithLocales?.[field.name]?.[localeID];