Apalone spinifera inhabits southernmost Ontario and Quebec in Canada, northern Mexico from Chihuahua to Tamaulipas, and most of the United States East of the Rocky Mountains. Occurs nearly throughout the Mississippi-Missouri-Ohio system, as far upstream as Wyoming, the Great Lakes region, Ottawa, southern St.Lawrence and Hudson systems, the Colorado system, the Rio Grande system, Atlantic drainages from Cape Fear to the Saint Marys River, and Gulf drainages from the Appalachicola to the Rio Soto de Marina.

Apalone spinifera spinifera: Most of the Mississippi-Missouri-Ohio and Great Lakes systems, with an isolated population in the Hudson valley.
Apalone spinifera atra: endemic to the Cuatro Cienegas basin of Coahuila, Mexico.
Apalone spinifera aspera: from southern North Carolina to Mississippi.
Apalone spinifera emoryi: Rio Grande - Pecos basin of Texas-New Mexico, USA, and Chihuahua to the Rio Soto de Marina in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Also inhabits the Colorado system of Arizona-California (and adjoining Utah, Nevada and New Mexico), documented to be introduced (Miller 1946, Iverson 1992, Ernst et al. 1994). Co-occurs with Apalone s. atra in the Cuatro Cienegas basin, where it prefers riverine sections (Webb and Legler 1960).
Apalone spinifera guadalupensis: Central Texas.
Apalone spinifera pallida: Louisiana, northeastern Texas and southern Oklahoma.