Sclater's Nightingale-thrush is distributed along mainly the eastern slope of the Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia and north-west Argentina. In Ecuador it is also distributed on the western slope. See the distribution map at Birdlife International. It is found in the undergrowth of forest including cloud forest at between 600 and 2,300 metres.

It is a bit of a skulker and generally more difficult to see than to hear.