diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index f92426f3e..c19a7ff8b 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ Unreleased
 - Dropped support for Python 3.7, which reached end-of-life on 2023-06-27 (gh-1202)
 - Dropped support for Django 4.0, which reached end-of-life on 2023-04-01 (gh-1202)
 - Added support for Django 4.2 (gh-1202)
+- Made ``bulk_update_with_history()`` return the number of model rows updated (gh-1206)
 
 3.3.0 (2023-03-08)
 ------------------
diff --git a/simple_history/tests/tests/test_utils.py b/simple_history/tests/tests/test_utils.py
index 0b629a439..7fc497fd8 100644
--- a/simple_history/tests/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/simple_history/tests/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 from datetime import datetime
+from unittest import skipUnless
 from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
 
+import django
 from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.db import IntegrityError, transaction
 from django.test import TestCase, TransactionTestCase, override_settings
@@ -423,6 +425,15 @@ def test_bulk_update_history_with_batch_size(self):
         self.assertEqual(Poll.objects.count(), 5)
         self.assertEqual(Poll.history.filter(history_type="~").count(), 5)
 
+    @skipUnless(django.VERSION >= (4, 0), "Requires Django 4.0 or above")
+    def test_bulk_update_with_history_returns_rows_updated(self):
+        rows_updated = bulk_update_with_history(
+            self.data,
+            Poll,
+            fields=["question"],
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(rows_updated, 5)
+
 
 class BulkUpdateWithHistoryAlternativeManagersTestCase(TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
diff --git a/simple_history/utils.py b/simple_history/utils.py
index a3b405bc0..d74a91d83 100644
--- a/simple_history/utils.py
+++ b/simple_history/utils.py
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@ def bulk_update_with_history(
         record
     :param manager: Optional model manager to use for the model instead of the default
         manager
+    :return: The number of model rows updated, not including any history objects
     """
     history_manager = get_history_manager_for_model(model)
     model_manager = manager or model._default_manager
@@ -180,7 +181,7 @@ def bulk_update_with_history(
         raise AlternativeManagerError("The given manager does not belong to the model.")
 
     with transaction.atomic(savepoint=False):
-        model_manager.bulk_update(objs, fields, batch_size=batch_size)
+        rows_updated = model_manager.bulk_update(objs, fields, batch_size=batch_size)
         history_manager.bulk_history_create(
             objs,
             batch_size=batch_size,
@@ -189,6 +190,7 @@ def bulk_update_with_history(
             default_change_reason=default_change_reason,
             default_date=default_date,
         )
+    return rows_updated
 
 
 def get_change_reason_from_object(obj):