Anguilla, Antigua And Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada (B), Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica (NB), Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, St Kitts And Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, USA (B), Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British) (P), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (P).
Vagrant to French Polynesia.
Breeds in south-eastern Canada (extreme south-eastern Ontario) and eastern USA from Great Lakes area southern locally (excluding Appalachians) to western Texas and northern and central Florida. Migrates to area from south-eastern Mexico south to extreme north-western South America, and Caribbean.
 
Population
Estimated population is 1,800,000 (2010).
Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) [XC345566]
by Antonio Xeira from North Carolina (near Durham), Durham County, North Carolina, United States (song)
Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) [XC228617]
by Bates Estabrooks from Heron Pond Preserve, Shawnee National Forest, Johnson County, Illinois, United States (song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Affinities uncertain. A recent study indicates close genetic relationship with Vermivora cyanoptera and Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) and with Swainson's Warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii). Has hybridized with Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia).