The Wedge-tailed Grass-finches (Emberizoides herbicola) occur naturally in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.
It is most concentrated in in southeastern South America in southern Brazil, Bolivia, eastern Paraguay, and extreme northeast Argentina in the cerrado, pantanal, and southern caatinga.
Its range also extends into northern Colombia with central Venezuela, and the Atlantic coastal Guianas, as well as Ilha de Marajo at the Amazon River outlet.
It inhabits dry savanna, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, and heavily degraded former forest.
