Belize (NB), Canada (B), Colombia (NB), Costa Rica (NB), Cuba (NB), Dominican Republic (NB), Ecuador (NB), El Salvador (NB), Guatemala (NB), Haiti (NB), Honduras (NB), Jamaica (NB), Mexico (NB), Nicaragua (NB), Panama (NB), Puerto Rico (NB), USA (B), Venezuela (NB), Virgin Islands (British) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (NB).
Vagrant to Barbados, French Polynesia, Netherlands Antilles (NB), Trinidad and Tobago (NB), United Kingdom.
Breeds from southern Canada (south-eastern Manitoba, southern Ontario) and northern USA (Minnesota) eastern past Great Lakes to Pennsylvania, and southern in Appalachians to northern Georgia; migrates to wintering grounds from south-eastern Mexico and Guatemala south to Panama, a few reaching northern South America.
 
Population
Estimated population is 210,000 (2010) and decreasing.
Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) [XC48305]
by Andrew Spencer from Coberly Sods, Randolph Co., West Virginia, United States (song)
Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) [XC313881]
by Martin St-Michel from Elsen's Hill, DuPage County, Illinois, United States (song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Recent studies of mitochondrial DNA indicate that this species and Blue-winged Warbler (Vermivora cyanoptera) form a clade, separate from the other species currently placed in genus. A recent study indicates that Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) and Swainson's Warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii) may also be genetically close to this species pair. Hybridizes regularly with Blue-winged Warbler (Vermivora cyanoptera) where breeding ranges overlap.