diff --git a/jupyter_server/config_manager.py b/jupyter_server/config_manager.py
index 87480d7609..db13326a0a 100644
--- a/jupyter_server/config_manager.py
+++ b/jupyter_server/config_manager.py
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ def get(self, section_name: str, include_root: bool = True) -> dict[str, t.Any]:
         )
         data: dict[str, t.Any] = {}
         for path in paths:
-            if os.path.isfile(path):
+            if os.path.isfile(path) and os.path.getsize(path):
                 with open(path, encoding="utf-8") as f:
                     recursive_update(data, json.load(f))
         return data