North-eastern and eastern Brazil from Maranhío east to Ceará and Paraíba, south to south-eastern Pará (upper R Xingú, Gorotire), extreme eastern Mato Grosso (R das Mortes), Goiás, Minas Gerais and Bahia, and isolated population in Espírito Santo.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
White-naped Jay (Cyanocorax cyanopogon) [XC658634]
by JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA from Patroc\u00ednio, Minas Gerais State, Brazil (call)
White-naped Jay (Cyanocorax cyanopogon) [XC83323]
by Eduardo D. Schultz from 1Bras\u00edlia National Park, Bras\u00edlia\/DF., Brazil (song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Forms a species pair, and previously regarded as conspecific, with Plush-crested Jay (Cyanocorax chrysops). It has also been suggested that the two form a superspecies with Tufted Jay (Cyanocorax dickeyi).
Proposed subspecies interpositus of Plush-crested Jay (Cyanocorax chrysops) (described from Alagoas, in north-eastern Brazil) seems to be based on a female of present species in worn subadult plumage, but possibly a valid taxon.