Bahamas, Canada (B), Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Turks and Caicos Islands, USA (B).
Vagrant to Belize.
Breeds in western and southern Canada from west-central Mackenzie, eastern British Columbia, Alberta, north-western and central Saskatchewan and Manitoba (local and irregular in north) east to southern Ontario and extreme southern Quebec (rarely east to Gaspé Peninsula), southern in USA to southern Wisconsin, Michigan and New York (perhaps rarely south to south-eastern South Dakota, north-western Iowa, Illinois and northern Indiana). Non-breeding in southern USA (southern New Mexico and southern Texas) and Mexico (south to Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas), rarely Guatemala.
 
Population
Estimated population is 23,000,000 (2010).
Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella) [XC813073]
by Andrew Sonea from Mont Royal Cemetery, Montr\u00e9al, Qu\u00e9bec, Canada (song)
Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella) [XC103468]
by Andrew Spencer from Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, Burke Co., North Dakota, United States (call, song)