diff --git a/lib/checks/navigation/region.js b/lib/checks/navigation/region.js
index 2a829f5d7e..f5865a7db5 100644
--- a/lib/checks/navigation/region.js
+++ b/lib/checks/navigation/region.js
@@ -66,8 +66,13 @@ function findRegionlessElms(virtualNode) {
 
 		return [];
 
-		// Return the node is a content element
-	} else if (dom.hasContent(node, /* noRecursion: */ true)) {
+		// Return the node is a content element. Ignore any direct text children
+		// of body so we don't report body as being outside of a landmark.
+		// @see https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/issues/2049
+	} else if (
+		node !== document.body &&
+		dom.hasContent(node, /* noRecursion: */ true)
+	) {
 		return [virtualNode];
 
 		// Recursively look at all child elements
diff --git a/test/integration/full/region/region-fail.html b/test/integration/full/region/region-fail.html
index bd0c05a8e8..0ea6767796 100644
--- a/test/integration/full/region/region-fail.html
+++ b/test/integration/full/region/region-fail.html
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ <h1 id="mainheader" tabindex="0">This is a header.</h1>
 			</section>
 		</div>
 
+		This should be ignored
+
 		<main id="mocha"></main>
 		<script src="region-fail.js"></script>
 		<script src="/test/integration/adapter.js"></script>