Southern Paraguay (Alto Paraná and Central), north-eastern Argentina (Misiones and Corrientes south through Entre Rios to extreme north-eastern Buenos Aires), south-eastern Brazil (southern Sío Paulo and Paraná south to Rio Grande do Sul) and Uruguay.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2013) and decreasing.
Grey-throated Warbling Finch (Microspingus cabanisi) [XC215623]
by Jeremy Minns from Estrada da Graciosa, Paran\u00e1 state, Brazil (call)
Grey-throated Warbling Finch (Microspingus cabanisi) [XC702111]
by Fernando Igor de Godoy from Alrededores Paso Centuri\u00f3n, Cerro Largo, Uruguay (alarm 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. Closest relatives of present species uncertain. Further study is required. Until recently thought to be conspecific with Buff-breasted Warbling-Finch (Microspingus lateralis), but separated on basis of differences in song and plumage.