The Blue-winged Mountain Tanager is distributed from northern Venezuela through Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to north-west Bolivia. See the distribution map at xeno-canto. Most authorities such as Clements and eBird lump as a sub-species A. s. flavinucha or Bolivian Mountain Tanager within Blue-winged Mountain Tanager but there seems to be some debate about this lump.

It is found in humid forest and secondary growth mainly between 1,200 and 2,500 metres.