Breeds in western USA from south-central and central Oregon, south-eastern Washington, southern Idaho, south-central and south-western Montana and Wyoming, possibly also west-central South Dakota, south to south-western and eastern California (principally east of Sierras), northern and central Arizona, west-central and north-eastern New Mexico, and central Colorado, western Oklahoma and south-western Texas, and in extreme north-western Mexico (northern Baja California). Non-breeding southern California east to western Texas, southern in Mexico to southern Baja California, Jalisco, Morelos, Hidalgo and Tamaulipas.
 
Population
Estimated population is 4,100,000 (2010).
Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilo chlorurus) [XC734332]
by Paul Marvin from Birch Creek Canyon, Lander County, Nevada, United States (song)
Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilo chlorurus) [XC700591]
by Paul Marvin from San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, Cochise County, Arizona, United States (call, subsong)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Relationships of genus not clear, although generally placed close to several other, similarly proportioned tropical American genera (e.g. some Aimophila, Atlapetes, Pyrgisoma and Melozone).