diff --git a/doc/api/next_api_changes/behavior/21038-DS.rst b/doc/api/next_api_changes/behavior/21038-DS.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..55ca3fb7597d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/api/next_api_changes/behavior/21038-DS.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+hexbin with a log norm
+----------------------
+`~.axes.Axes.hexbin` no longer  (incorrectly) adds 1 to every bin value if a
+log norm is being used.
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
index 257ae2fe4839..8e42430d68b7 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
@@ -4803,11 +4803,6 @@ def reduce_C_function(C: array) -> float
                 vmin = vmax = None
             bins = None
 
-        if isinstance(norm, mcolors.LogNorm):
-            if (accum == 0).any():
-                # make sure we have no zeros
-                accum += 1
-
         # autoscale the norm with current accum values if it hasn't
         # been set
         if norm is not None:
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_axes/hexbin_log.png b/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_axes/hexbin_log.png
index febefb870918..1dc46d9f4d5b 100644
Binary files a/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_axes/hexbin_log.png and b/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_axes/hexbin_log.png differ