diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/web-servers/nginx/default.nix b/nixos/modules/services/web-servers/nginx/default.nix
index cf70dc325945..eafaa32f5b9b 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/web-servers/nginx/default.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/web-servers/nginx/default.nix
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ let
       ${optionalString (config.tryFiles != null) "try_files ${config.tryFiles};"}
       ${optionalString (config.root != null) "root ${config.root};"}
       ${optionalString (config.alias != null) "alias ${config.alias};"}
-      ${optionalString (config.return != null) "return ${config.return};"}
+      ${optionalString (config.return != null) "return ${toString config.return};"}
       ${config.extraConfig}
       ${optionalString (config.proxyPass != null && config.recommendedProxySettings) "include ${recommendedProxyConfig};"}
       ${mkBasicAuth "sublocation" config}
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/web-servers/nginx/location-options.nix b/nixos/modules/services/web-servers/nginx/location-options.nix
index 2728852058ea..2138e551fd43 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/web-servers/nginx/location-options.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/web-servers/nginx/location-options.nix
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ with lib;
     };
 
     return = mkOption {
-      type = types.nullOr types.str;
+      type = with types; nullOr (oneOf [ str int ]);
       default = null;
       example = "301 http://example.com$request_uri";
       description = lib.mdDoc ''