diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index cafe4bcb..16f5ab46 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.
 
 ### Changed
 
+- Make `orjson` usage more consistent [#402](https://github.com/stac-utils/stac-fastapi-elasticsearch-opensearch/pull/402)
 - Improved datetime query handling to only check start and end datetime values when datetime is None [#396](https://github.com/stac-utils/stac-fastapi-elasticsearch-opensearch/pull/396)
 - Optimize data_loader.py script [#395](https://github.com/stac-utils/stac-fastapi-elasticsearch-opensearch/pull/395)
 - Refactored test configuration to use shared app config pattern [#399](https://github.com/stac-utils/stac-fastapi-elasticsearch-opensearch/pull/399)
diff --git a/stac_fastapi/core/stac_fastapi/core/route_dependencies.py b/stac_fastapi/core/stac_fastapi/core/route_dependencies.py
index 29dcc58b..fa5e4934 100644
--- a/stac_fastapi/core/stac_fastapi/core/route_dependencies.py
+++ b/stac_fastapi/core/stac_fastapi/core/route_dependencies.py
@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@
 
 import importlib
 import inspect
-import json
 import logging
 import os
 from typing import List
 
+import orjson
 from fastapi import Depends
 from jsonschema import validate
 
@@ -84,14 +84,14 @@
 
 def get_route_dependencies_conf(route_dependencies_env: str) -> list:
     """Get Route dependencies configuration from file or environment variable."""
-    if os.path.exists(route_dependencies_env):
-        with open(route_dependencies_env, encoding="utf-8") as route_dependencies_file:
-            route_dependencies_conf = json.load(route_dependencies_file)
+    if os.path.isfile(route_dependencies_env):
+        with open(route_dependencies_env, "rb") as f:
+            route_dependencies_conf = orjson.loads(f.read())
 
     else:
         try:
-            route_dependencies_conf = json.loads(route_dependencies_env)
-        except json.JSONDecodeError as exception:
+            route_dependencies_conf = orjson.loads(route_dependencies_env)
+        except orjson.JSONDecodeError as exception:
             _LOGGER.error("Invalid JSON format for route dependencies. %s", exception)
             raise
 
diff --git a/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/database_logic.py b/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/database_logic.py
index 2d630769..94f2530f 100644
--- a/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/database_logic.py
+++ b/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/stac_fastapi/elasticsearch/database_logic.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 """Database logic."""
 
 import asyncio
-import json
 import logging
 from base64 import urlsafe_b64decode, urlsafe_b64encode
 from copy import deepcopy
@@ -9,6 +8,7 @@
 
 import attr
 import elasticsearch.helpers as helpers
+import orjson
 from elasticsearch.dsl import Q, Search
 from elasticsearch.exceptions import NotFoundError as ESNotFoundError
 from starlette.requests import Request
@@ -503,7 +503,7 @@ async def execute_search(
         search_after = None
 
         if token:
-            search_after = json.loads(urlsafe_b64decode(token).decode())
+            search_after = orjson.loads(urlsafe_b64decode(token))
 
         query = search.query.to_dict() if search.query else None
 
@@ -543,7 +543,7 @@ async def execute_search(
         next_token = None
         if len(hits) > limit and limit < max_result_window:
             if hits and (sort_array := hits[limit - 1].get("sort")):
-                next_token = urlsafe_b64encode(json.dumps(sort_array).encode()).decode()
+                next_token = urlsafe_b64encode(orjson.dumps(sort_array)).decode()
 
         matched = (
             es_response["hits"]["total"]["value"]
diff --git a/stac_fastapi/opensearch/stac_fastapi/opensearch/database_logic.py b/stac_fastapi/opensearch/stac_fastapi/opensearch/database_logic.py
index ba6fb9e8..979a0f8f 100644
--- a/stac_fastapi/opensearch/stac_fastapi/opensearch/database_logic.py
+++ b/stac_fastapi/opensearch/stac_fastapi/opensearch/database_logic.py
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 """Database logic."""
 
 import asyncio
-import json
 import logging
 from base64 import urlsafe_b64decode, urlsafe_b64encode
 from copy import deepcopy
 from typing import Any, Dict, Iterable, List, Optional, Tuple, Type, Union
 
 import attr
+import orjson
 from opensearchpy import exceptions, helpers
 from opensearchpy.helpers.query import Q
 from opensearchpy.helpers.search import Search
@@ -527,7 +527,7 @@ async def execute_search(
         search_after = None
 
         if token:
-            search_after = json.loads(urlsafe_b64decode(token).decode())
+            search_after = orjson.loads(urlsafe_b64decode(token))
         if search_after:
             search_body["search_after"] = search_after
 
@@ -567,7 +567,7 @@ async def execute_search(
         next_token = None
         if len(hits) > limit and limit < max_result_window:
             if hits and (sort_array := hits[limit - 1].get("sort")):
-                next_token = urlsafe_b64encode(json.dumps(sort_array).encode()).decode()
+                next_token = urlsafe_b64encode(orjson.dumps(sort_array)).decode()
 
         matched = (
             es_response["hits"]["total"]["value"]