Eastern Brazil (Alagoas; southern Bahia and eastern Minas Gerais south to northern Rio Grande do Sul) and north-eastern Argentina (Misiones); possibly also south-eastern Paraguay (no recent records).
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Black-throated Grosbeak (Saltator fuliginosus) [XC546347]
by Daniel Hinckley from RPPN Serra Bonita, Camacan, Bahia., Brazil (song)
Black-throated Grosbeak (Saltator fuliginosus) [XC229243]
by Douglas Meyer from Ubatuba - Folha Seca road, Sao Paulo, Brazil (call)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Slate-colored Grosbeak (Saltator grossus) and Black-throated Grosbeak (Saltator fuliginosus) were formerly placed in the genus Pitylus but are here moved to Saltator following AOU (even though Black-throated Grosbeak (Saltator fuliginosus) is a South American species, occuring outside the AOU region).
Affiliations of genus uncertain. Recent molecular-genetic analyses indicate that it does not belong with present family, and may be better placed with tanagers (Thraupidae). Sometimes treated as conspecific with Slate-colored Grosbeak (Saltator grossus), and both sometimes placed in a separate genus, Pitylus.