North-eastern and eastern Brazil from Maranhío east to Ceará and Paraíba, south to south-eastern Pará (upper R Xingú, Gorotire), extreme eastern Mato Grosso (R das Mortes), Goiás, Minas Gerais and Bahia, and isolated population in Espírito Santo.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
White-naped Jay (Cyanocorax cyanopogon) [XC338787]
by Daniel Blamires from Povoado Porto Alegre, Bahia, Brazil (song)
White-naped Jay (Cyanocorax cyanopogon) [XC251843]
by Marcelo Villegas from Novo Horizonte, Ourol\u00e2ndia, Bahia, Brazil (call, song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Forms a species pair, and previously regarded as conspecific, with Plush-crested Jay (Cyanocorax chrysops). It has also been suggested that the two form a superspecies with Tufted Jay (Cyanocorax dickeyi).
Proposed subspecies interpositus of Plush-crested Jay (Cyanocorax chrysops) (described from Alagoas, in north-eastern Brazil) seems to be based on a female of present species in worn subadult plumage, but possibly a valid taxon.