Eastern Peru, Brazil south of Amazon (east to northern Maranhío, south to Rondônia and south-central Mato Grosso, also disjunct coastal population from Pernambuco south to Rio de Janeiro) and northern Bolivia.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Red-headed Manakin (Ceratopipra rubrocapilla) [XC322338]
by Fernando Igor de Godoy from S\u00e3o Vicente Ferrer, S\u00e3o Vicente Ferrer, Pernambuco, Brazil (call)
Red-headed Manakin (Ceratopipra rubrocapilla) [XC618924]
by JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA from Uru\u00e7uca, Uru\u00e7uca, Bahia, Brazil (call, flight call, song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
May form a superspecies with Golden-headed Manakin (Ceratopipra erythrocephala) and Red-capped Manakin (Ceratopipra mentalis) and has been considered conspecific with former, but the two occur sympatrically in north-eastern Peru (along R Ucayali and lower R Huallaga).