Caribbean slope of Costa Rica and Panama (eastern from Chiriquí and Veraguas; also Pacific coast in Darién) and Pacific coast of Colombia (southern from southern Chocó) to north-western Ecuador (Imbabura, Esmeraldas and Pichincha).
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Emerald Tanager (Tangara florida) [XC489636]
by Andrew Spencer from Quebrada Gonzalez, Braulio Carrillo NP, Limon, Costa Rica (call)
Emerald Tanager (Tangara florida) [XC262560]
by Jonas Nilsson from Esmeraldas: Playa de Oro, foothill zone ca. 7 km E of village, R\u00edo Santiago, Ecuador (begging call, call, begging calls, juveniles, contact calls)
Proposed subspecies auriceps (described from Buenavista, in Nariño, in south-western Colombia) considered indistinguishable from birds elsewhere in species' range. The form anchicayae, from mountains above R Anchicayá, in Valle (Colombia), described erroneously as a subspecies of Green-and-gold Tanager (Tangara schrankii), is now known to be a synonym of present species.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
florida (Sclater & Salvin, 1869) - Costa Rica to north-western Ecuador.
auriceps Chapman, 1914 - Extreme eastern Panama (Darién) to Colombia and north-western Ecuador.