The Asiatic golden cat has a similar range to its close relative Pardofelis marmorata: from the Himalayan foothills into China and Southeast Asia. However, it has a larger range in China, like the clouded leopard, and it does not occur on the island of Borneo, where its other close relative, Pardofelis badia, occurs (Nowell and Jackson 1996, Sunquist and Sunquist 2002).

The map shows range within forest cover (European Commission, Joint Research Centre, 2003) to reflect patchiness caused by deforestation upon recommendation of the assessors (IUCN Cats Red List workshop 2007).