Breeds in central Argentina from San Juan and La Rioja south through Mendoza, San Luis, northern La Pampa and western Buenos Aires. Non-breeding also northern and east to Salta, Tucumán, Córdoba and northern Buenos Aires.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Cinnamon Warbling Finch (Poospiza ornata) [XC108228]
by Bernabe Lopez-Lanus from Aeropuerto de la ciudad de La Rioja, prov. La Rioja, Argentina (call)
Cinnamon Warbling Finch (Poospiza ornata) [XC108231]
by Peter Boesman from Aeropuerto de la ciudad de La Rioja, prov. La Rioja, Argentina (call)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
New molecular data indicate that genus forms a clade with the tanager (Thraupidae) genera Hemispingus and Thlypopsis, and that Compsospiza, which often subsumed within present genus, is sister to that clade. Molecular evidence suggests that this species is either sister to Bolivian Warbling-Finch (Poospiza boliviana) or part of a clade that also includes latter.