diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5991f818d..216339e66 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 - Fixed `TreeNode.toggle` and `TreeNode.toggle_all` not posting a `Tree.NodeExpanded` or `Tree.NodeCollapsed` message https://github.com/Textualize/textual/issues/2535
 - `footer--description` component class was being ignored https://github.com/Textualize/textual/issues/2544
 - Pasting empty selection in `Input` would raise an exception https://github.com/Textualize/textual/issues/2563
+- `Screen.AUTO_FOCUS` now focuses the first _focusable_ widget that matches the selector https://github.com/Textualize/textual/issues/2578
 
 ### Added
 
diff --git a/src/textual/screen.py b/src/textual/screen.py
index af0b006be..9f065dfbf 100644
--- a/src/textual/screen.py
+++ b/src/textual/screen.py
@@ -668,11 +668,14 @@ class Screen(Generic[ScreenResultType], Widget):
         size = self.app.size
         if self.AUTO_FOCUS is not None and self.focused is None:
             try:
-                to_focus = self.query(self.AUTO_FOCUS).first()
+                focus_candidates = self.query(self.AUTO_FOCUS)
             except NoMatches:
                 pass
             else:
-                self.set_focus(to_focus)
+                for widget in focus_candidates:
+                    if widget.focusable:
+                        self.set_focus(widget)
+                        break
         self._refresh_layout(size, full=True)
         self.refresh()
 
diff --git a/tests/test_screens.py b/tests/test_screens.py
index 2e3dbfcbe..7ddc8b20e 100644
--- a/tests/test_screens.py
+++ b/tests/test_screens.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import pytest
 
 from textual.app import App, ScreenStackError
 from textual.screen import Screen
-from textual.widgets import Button, Input
+from textual.widgets import Button, Input, Label
 
 skip_py310 = pytest.mark.skipif(
     sys.version_info.minor == 10 and sys.version_info.major == 3,
@@ -155,8 +155,7 @@ async def test_screens():
 
 async def test_auto_focus():
     class MyScreen(Screen[None]):
-        def compose(self) -> None:
-            print("composing")
+        def compose(self):
             yield Button()
             yield Input(id="one")
             yield Input(id="two")
@@ -192,3 +191,19 @@ async def test_auto_focus():
         assert app.focused is None
         app.pop_screen()
         assert app.focused.id == "two"
+
+
+async def test_auto_focus_skips_non_focusable_widgets():
+    class MyScreen(Screen[None]):
+        def compose(self):
+            yield Label()
+            yield Button()
+
+    class MyApp(App[None]):
+        def on_mount(self):
+            self.push_screen(MyScreen())
+
+    app = MyApp()
+    async with app.run_test():
+        assert app.focused is not None
+        assert isinstance(app.focused, Button)