Eastern Brazil (eastern Bahia and south-western Minas Gerais south to southern Mato Grosso do Sul and extreme northern Rio Grande do Sul), eastern Paraguay (Canendiyu south to Itapuá) and extreme north-eastern Argentina (Misiones).
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
White-shouldered Fire-eye (Pyriglena leucoptera) [XC427870]
by Arthur Monteiro Gomes from Road to Remanso, Len\u00e7ois, Lencois-BA, Bahia, Brazil (canto)
White-shouldered Fire-eye (Pyriglena leucoptera) [XC339555]
by Fernando Igor de Godoy from Macarani, Bahia, Brazil (alarm call, call, song)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with White-backed Fire-eye (Pyriglena leuconota) and Fringe-backed Fire-eye (Pyriglena atra), and sometimes treated as conspecific with either or both.