Vagrant to Bahamas, Barbados, Costa Rica, Cuba, Greenland, Iceland, Panama, St Pierre and Miquelon (NB) (P).
Breeds in south-central Canada (from interior British Columbia east to northern Saskatchewan, south-central Manitoba and south-western Ontario) southern in western and central USA to California, central New Mexico, northern Kansas, northern Illinois and Michigan and extreme north-western Mexico (north-eastern Baja California); migrates to southern USA and Mexico (south to northern Oaxaca and Veracruz).
 
Population
Estimated population is 20,000,000 (2010).
Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) [XC467748]
by Ed Pandolfino from Gloyd Seeps, Grant County, Washington, United States (call)
Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) [XC352731]
by Richard E. Webster from Laguna Zapotl\u00e1n, Jalisco, Mexico (call, song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Analyses of mitochondrial DNA indicate that this species is distantly related to Sturnella. It resembles Agelaius in breeding ecology, but displays are quite different.