Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Venezuela.
Unknown to Honduras.
Sierra de Perijá, and Andes from western Venezuela (Táchira) and Colombia (all three cordilleras) southern on eastern slopes to Peru and north-western Bolivia (La Paz).
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Scarlet-rumped Cacique (Cacicus microrhynchus) [XC625569]
by Joost van Bruggen from Corregimiento de Crist\u00f3bal (near Gamboa), Col\u00f3n, Provincia de Col\u00f3n, Panama (call, song, ship engine in the canal)
Scarlet-rumped Cacique (Cacicus microrhynchus) [XC242286]
by Niels Krabbe from El Oro: Daucay, Ecuador (call)
Subspecies
Cacicus uropygialis (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) is retained as a species contra Stotz et al. (1996) who split it into uropygialis and microrhynchus.
Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Subtropical Cacique (Cacicus uropygialis).
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
uropygialis (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1865) - Sierra de Perijá, and Andes from western Venezuela (Táchira) and Colombia (all three cordilleras) southern on eastern slopes to Peru and north-western Bolivia (La Paz). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Subtropical Cacique (Cacicus uropygialis).
microrhynchus (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1865) - Eastern Honduras southern in Caribbean lowlands (in Costa Rica and Panama also locally in Pacific lowlands) to eastern Panama (San Blas). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Subtropical Cacique (Cacicus uropygialis).
pacificus Chapman, 1915 - Eastern Panama (Darién) and Pacific lowlands of Colombia south to south-western Ecuador (El Oro). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Pacific Cacique (Cacicus pacificus).