diff --git src/wp-admin/index.php src/wp-admin/index.php
index 76628abbd7..5c73f19008 100644
--- src/wp-admin/index.php
+++ src/wp-admin/index.php
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/dashboard.php');
 wp_dashboard_setup();
 
 wp_enqueue_script( 'dashboard' );
-wp_localize_script( 'dashboard', 'communityEventsData', wp_get_community_events_script_data() );
 
 if ( current_user_can( 'edit_theme_options' ) )
 	wp_enqueue_script( 'customize-loader' );
diff --git src/wp-admin/network/index.php src/wp-admin/network/index.php
index 38acec4b6e..f4a1aa6423 100644
--- src/wp-admin/network/index.php
+++ src/wp-admin/network/index.php
@@ -54,7 +54,6 @@ get_current_screen()->set_help_sidebar(
 wp_dashboard_setup();
 
 wp_enqueue_script( 'dashboard' );
-wp_localize_script( 'dashboard', 'communityEventsData', wp_get_community_events_script_data() );
 wp_enqueue_script( 'plugin-install' );
 add_thickbox();
 
diff --git src/wp-includes/script-loader.php src/wp-includes/script-loader.php
index f1eda9ee38..6bb01aee42 100644
--- src/wp-includes/script-loader.php
+++ src/wp-includes/script-loader.php
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ require( ABSPATH . WPINC . '/functions.wp-styles.php' );
  */
 function wp_default_scripts( &$scripts ) {
 	include( ABSPATH . WPINC . '/version.php' ); // include an unmodified $wp_version
+	global $pagenow;
 
 	$develop_src = false !== strpos( $wp_version, '-src' );
 
@@ -733,6 +734,15 @@ function wp_default_scripts( &$scripts ) {
 		) );
 
 		$scripts->add( 'dashboard', "/wp-admin/js/dashboard$suffix.js", array( 'jquery', 'admin-comments', 'postbox', 'wp-util', 'wp-a11y' ), false, 1 );
+		/*
+		 * Only localize the script on the Network Dashboard and single-site
+		 * Dashboard screens, because wp_get_community_events_script_data() is
+		 * too expensive to call on every page load.
+		 */
+		if ( 'index.php' === $pagenow ) {
+			require_once( ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/dashboard.php' );
+			$scripts->localize( 'dashboard', 'communityEventsData', wp_get_community_events_script_data() );
+		}
 
 		$scripts->add( 'list-revisions', "/wp-includes/js/wp-list-revisions$suffix.js" );