The grey-sided vole, Myodes rufocanus, has a large range in the northern Palaearctic, extending from northern Fennoscandia through northern Russia, including Siberia to Kamtchatka, the south Ural Mountains, Altai Mountains, and northeastern and northern Korea (Keima Plateau) and the islands of Sakhalin (Russia), and Japan (Sulkava 1999). It ranges as far south as northern parts of Mongolia and China (Wilson and Reeder 2005). In China it occurs from northern Xinjiang eastwards through Mongolia to the provinces of Jilin and Liaoning in northeast China. In Mongolia it is known from woodland habitats in Hangai, Hentii, Hövsgöl, Mongol Altai and Ikh Hyangan mountain ranges, and Mongol Daguur Steppe. There is an isolated population around Ikh Bogd Mountain in Govi Altai Mountain Range (Lkhagvasuren and Samiya, 2004). In Japan, the subspecies Clethrionomys rufocanus bedfordiae is found on Hokkaido, Rishiri, Rebun, Daikoku, Teuri, Yagishiri, as well as Kunashir and Shikotan (South Kuril Islands) (Abe, et al., 2005).

It occurs from the coast to at least 1,170 m in northern Fennoscandia (Henttonen and Viitala 1982), and can reach elevations of up to 2,700 m asl in its Mongolian range, such as the Hangai Mountain Range.