Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua.
Eastern and south-eastern Mexico (from c. 15 km Nwest of Gómez Farías, in southern Tamaulipas, and south-eastern San Luis Potosí, and from Oaxaca) southern on Caribbean slope to north-central Nicaragua and on Pacific slope to southern Honduras (possibly also north-western Nicaragua); a published sight record from northern Costa Rica.
 
Population
Estimated population is 500,000 - 4,999,999 (2010).
Yellow-winged Tanager (Thraupis abbas) [XC230882]
by Frank Lambert from Lacanja, Chiapas, Mexico (song)
Yellow-winged Tanager (Thraupis abbas) [XC880321]
by Peter Boesman from RNP Los Tarrales, Suchitep\u00e9quez, Guatemala (song and call)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Recent molecular-genetic data do not support the monophyly of genus as currently constituted, with six of eight species sampled embedded with Tangara, a finding that makes genus Tangara paraphyletic. Further research is required.