diff --git a/src/core/cgroup.c b/src/core/cgroup.c
index af611e7e7b..c6667b39c7 100644
--- a/src/core/cgroup.c
+++ b/src/core/cgroup.c
@@ -2224,6 +2224,7 @@ int unit_get_ip_accounting(
                 CGroupIPAccountingMetric metric,
                 uint64_t *ret) {
 
+        uint64_t value;
         int fd, r;
 
         assert(u);
@@ -2239,9 +2240,17 @@ int unit_get_ip_accounting(
                 return -ENODATA;
 
         if (IN_SET(metric, CGROUP_IP_INGRESS_BYTES, CGROUP_IP_EGRESS_BYTES))
-                r = bpf_firewall_read_accounting(fd, ret, NULL);
+                r = bpf_firewall_read_accounting(fd, &value, NULL);
         else
-                r = bpf_firewall_read_accounting(fd, NULL, ret);
+                r = bpf_firewall_read_accounting(fd, NULL, &value);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
+        /* Add in additional metrics from a previous runtime. Note that when reexecing/reloading the daemon we compile
+         * all BPF programs and maps anew, but serialize the old counters. When deserializing we store them in the
+         * ip_accounting_extra[] field, and add them in here transparently. */
+
+        *ret = value + u->ip_accounting_extra[metric];
 
         return r;
 }
@@ -2275,6 +2284,8 @@ int unit_reset_ip_accounting(Unit *u) {
         if (u->ip_accounting_egress_map_fd >= 0)
                 q = bpf_firewall_reset_accounting(u->ip_accounting_egress_map_fd);
 
+        zero(u->ip_accounting_extra);
+
         return r < 0 ? r : q;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/core/unit.c b/src/core/unit.c
index bb40baf236..5ed5764455 100644
--- a/src/core/unit.c
+++ b/src/core/unit.c
@@ -2770,7 +2770,15 @@ static int unit_serialize_cgroup_mask(FILE *f, const char *key, CGroupMask mask)
         return r;
 }
 
+static const char *ip_accounting_metric_field[_CGROUP_IP_ACCOUNTING_METRIC_MAX] = {
+        [CGROUP_IP_INGRESS_BYTES] = "ip-accounting-ingress-bytes",
+        [CGROUP_IP_INGRESS_PACKETS] = "ip-accounting-ingress-packets",
+        [CGROUP_IP_EGRESS_BYTES] = "ip-accounting-egress-bytes",
+        [CGROUP_IP_EGRESS_PACKETS] = "ip-accounting-egress-packets",
+};
+
 int unit_serialize(Unit *u, FILE *f, FDSet *fds, bool serialize_jobs) {
+        CGroupIPAccountingMetric m;
         int r;
 
         assert(u);
@@ -2831,6 +2839,14 @@ int unit_serialize(Unit *u, FILE *f, FDSet *fds, bool serialize_jobs) {
 
         bus_track_serialize(u->bus_track, f, "ref");
 
+        for (m = 0; m < _CGROUP_IP_ACCOUNTING_METRIC_MAX; m++) {
+                uint64_t v;
+
+                r = unit_get_ip_accounting(u, m, &v);
+                if (r >= 0)
+                        unit_serialize_item_format(u, f, ip_accounting_metric_field[m], "%" PRIu64, v);
+        }
+
         if (serialize_jobs) {
                 if (u->job) {
                         fprintf(f, "job\n");
@@ -2937,6 +2953,7 @@ int unit_deserialize(Unit *u, FILE *f, FDSet *fds) {
 
         for (;;) {
                 char line[LINE_MAX], *l, *v;
+                CGroupIPAccountingMetric m;
                 size_t k;
 
                 if (!fgets(line, sizeof(line), f)) {
@@ -3147,6 +3164,21 @@ int unit_deserialize(Unit *u, FILE *f, FDSet *fds) {
                         continue;
                 }
 
+                /* Check if this is an IP accounting metric serialization field */
+                for (m = 0; m < _CGROUP_IP_ACCOUNTING_METRIC_MAX; m++)
+                        if (streq(l, ip_accounting_metric_field[m]))
+                                break;
+                if (m < _CGROUP_IP_ACCOUNTING_METRIC_MAX) {
+                        uint64_t c;
+
+                        r = safe_atou64(v, &c);
+                        if (r < 0)
+                                log_unit_debug(u, "Failed to parse IP accounting value %s, ignoring.", v);
+                        else
+                                u->ip_accounting_extra[m] = c;
+                        continue;
+                }
+
                 if (unit_can_serialize(u)) {
                         if (rt) {
                                 r = exec_runtime_deserialize_item(u, rt, l, v, fds);
diff --git a/src/core/unit.h b/src/core/unit.h
index a707e5259d..2759bd07a2 100644
--- a/src/core/unit.h
+++ b/src/core/unit.h
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ typedef struct UnitStatusMessageFormats UnitStatusMessageFormats;
 #include "install.h"
 #include "list.h"
 #include "unit-name.h"
+#include "cgroup.h"
 
 typedef enum KillOperation {
         KILL_TERMINATE,
@@ -224,6 +225,8 @@ struct Unit {
         BPFProgram *ip_bpf_ingress;
         BPFProgram *ip_bpf_egress;
 
+        uint64_t ip_accounting_extra[_CGROUP_IP_ACCOUNTING_METRIC_MAX];
+
         /* How to start OnFailure units */
         JobMode on_failure_job_mode;