Anguilla, Antigua And Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada (B), Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, 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, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, USA (B), Venezuela.
Vagrant to French Polynesia, Greenland, Jamaica, United Kingdom, Virgin Islands (U.S.).
Breeds in southern Canada (from south-western Northwest Territories and north-eastern British Columbia east to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia) and north-eastern USA (north-eastern Minnesota east to Maine and New Hampshire). Migrates to Central America and north-western South America.
 
Population
Estimated population is 3,000,000 (2010).
Bay-breasted Warbler (Setophaga castanea) [XC473602]
by Bobby Wilcox from Beechwood Blvd at Nicholson St (near Pittsburgh), Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States (song)
Bay-breasted Warbler (Setophaga castanea) [XC784535]
by Chris Parrish from Halifax (near Porters Lake), Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada (song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Relationships unclear. Blackpoll Warbler (Setophaga striata) presumed to be the closest relative of present species, but little information. Has hybridized with Blackpoll Warbler (Setophaga striata), Myrtle Warbler (Setophaga coronata) (nominate subspecies) and Blackburnian Warbler (Setophaga fusca).