diff --git a/.changelog/25340.txt b/.changelog/25340.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fe86f99d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/25340.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+scheduler: Use core ID when selecting cores. This fixes a panic in the scheduler when the `reservable_cores` is not a contiguous list of core IDs.
+```
diff --git a/scheduler/numa_ce.go b/scheduler/numa_ce.go
index fa23fbcca..ea616979d 100644
--- a/scheduler/numa_ce.go
+++ b/scheduler/numa_ce.go
@@ -6,12 +6,13 @@
 package scheduler
 
 import (
+	"cmp"
 	"math/rand"
+	"slices"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/client/lib/idset"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/client/lib/numalib"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/client/lib/numalib/hw"
-	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/helper"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/nomad/structs"
 )
 
@@ -29,10 +30,16 @@ type coreSelector struct {
 func (cs *coreSelector) Select(ask *structs.Resources) ([]uint16, hw.MHz) {
 	cores := cs.availableCores.Slice()[0:ask.Cores]
 	mhz := hw.MHz(0)
+	ids := make([]uint16, 0, ask.Cores)
+	sortedTopologyCores := make([]numalib.Core, len(cs.topology.Cores))
+	copy(sortedTopologyCores, cs.topology.Cores)
+	slices.SortFunc(sortedTopologyCores, func(a, b numalib.Core) int { return cmp.Compare(a.ID, b.ID) })
 	for _, core := range cores {
-		mhz += cs.topology.Cores[core].MHz()
+		if i, found := slices.BinarySearchFunc(sortedTopologyCores, core, func(c numalib.Core, id hw.CoreID) int { return cmp.Compare(c.ID, id) }); found {
+			mhz += cs.topology.Cores[i].MHz()
+			ids = append(ids, uint16(cs.topology.Cores[i].ID))
+		}
 	}
-	ids := helper.ConvertSlice(cores, func(id hw.CoreID) uint16 { return uint16(id) })
 	return ids, mhz
 }
 
diff --git a/scheduler/numa_ce_test.go b/scheduler/numa_ce_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f50b01ca7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scheduler/numa_ce_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+package scheduler
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/client/lib/idset"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/client/lib/numalib"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/client/lib/numalib/hw"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/nomad/structs"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestCoreSelectorSelect(t *testing.T) {
+	var (
+		totalCores = 46
+		maxSpeed   = 100
+		coreIds    = make([]uint16, totalCores)
+		cores      = make([]numalib.Core, totalCores)
+	)
+	for i := 1; i < 24; i++ {
+		coreIds[i-1] = uint16(i)
+		cores[i-1] = numalib.Core{
+			SocketID:   0,
+			NodeID:     0,
+			ID:         hw.CoreID(i),
+			Grade:      false,
+			Disable:    false,
+			BaseSpeed:  0,
+			MaxSpeed:   hw.MHz(maxSpeed),
+			GuessSpeed: 0,
+		}
+	}
+	for i := 25; i < 48; i++ {
+		coreIds[i-2] = uint16(i)
+		cores[i-2] = numalib.Core{
+			SocketID:   0,
+			NodeID:     0,
+			ID:         hw.CoreID(i),
+			Grade:      false,
+			Disable:    false,
+			BaseSpeed:  0,
+			MaxSpeed:   hw.MHz(maxSpeed),
+			GuessSpeed: 0,
+		}
+	}
+	require.Equal(t, coreIds, []uint16{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47})
+
+	selector := &coreSelector{
+		topology: &numalib.Topology{
+			Cores: cores,
+		},
+		availableCores: idset.From[hw.CoreID](coreIds),
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range []struct {
+		name        string
+		resources   *structs.Resources
+		expectedIds []uint16
+		expectedMhz hw.MHz
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "request all cores",
+			resources: &structs.Resources{
+				Cores: totalCores,
+			},
+			expectedIds: coreIds,
+			expectedMhz: hw.MHz(totalCores * maxSpeed),
+		},
+		{
+			name: "request half the cores",
+			resources: &structs.Resources{
+				Cores: 10,
+			},
+			expectedIds: coreIds[:10],
+			expectedMhz: hw.MHz(10 * maxSpeed),
+		},
+		{
+			name: "request one core",
+			resources: &structs.Resources{
+				Cores: 1,
+			},
+			expectedIds: coreIds[:1],
+			expectedMhz: hw.MHz(1 * maxSpeed),
+		},
+	} {
+		t.Run(test.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			ids, mhz := selector.Select(test.resources)
+			require.Equal(t, test.expectedIds, ids)
+			require.Equal(t, test.expectedMhz, mhz)
+		})
+	}
+}