The Green Jay is distributed from the extreme south of Texas to Honduras and in the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia as well as the mountains of northern Venezuela. See the distribution map at Birdlife International. Some authorities have treated the populations of Central America as a separate species C. luxosus but most now combine this with the South American yncas group.

They are found in forest, forest edge and tall secondary growth where they have large territories patrolled by noisy groups of 3 to 9 birds. It is a montane jay mostly at between 1,300 and 2,600 metres.

It has a wide vocal repertoire.