Anguilla, Antigua And Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Canada (B), Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, St Kitts And Nevis, St Lucia, St Pierre and Miquelon (P), St Vincent and The Grenadines, Turks and Caicos Islands, USA (B), Virgin Islands (British) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (NB).
Vagrant to Greenland, United Kingdom.
Canada and northern and eastern United States of America. Winters in southern USA south to central Panama and the Caribbean.
 
Population
Estimated population is 9,000,000 (2010).
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) [XC644885]
by Jeff Stewart from , United States (alarm call, call, drumming)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus) [XC142743]
by Richard E. Webster from 3 km south of Fishing Lake, SK, Canada (call)
Nest
An unlined hole, excavated in a tree.
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Red-naped Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis) and Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber) and sometimes treated as conspecific with Red-naped Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis), and in past also with Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber). Hybridizes to limited extent with Red-naped Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis) in south-western Canada (Alberta), more rarely with Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber) where ranges overlap. Birds from southern Appalachian Mountains sometimes separated as subspecies appalachiensis on basis of slightly darker plumage and marginally smaller size, but considerable overlap with northern populations.