Occurs north of the Amazon throughout the Guianas, southern and central Venezuela and northern Brazil. Limited to the south by the Amazon River, and to the west by the Rio Negro in Brazil and Orinoco in Venezuela. It extends north as far as the west bank of Lago Guri in Venezuela, north of the confluence of the Ríos Paragua and Caroni, its distribution here being limited by the increasing impact of drier vegetation (Hershkovitz 1985), and its eastern boundary in Venezuela appears to be the left bank of the Caroní. It is largely absent from western Guyana, occurring to the east of the Rio Essequibo. In Suriname, it is absent from the coastal plain, while in French Guiana it is only found in the extreme south (approximately 200 km inland). In eastern Brazil, it occurs throughout the State of Amapá and is possibly only absent from wetter regions along the coast.

Although Cacajao and Chiropotes are mutually exclusive, mixed groups of Cacajao hosomi and Chiropotes chiropotes in the region of the Pico da Neblina (Boubli 2002).