The thick-billed parrot used to live in Arizona, but is now found only in northern Mexico. It is unusual in that it lives in high elevation temperate forests. The summer (breeding) range of the thick-billed parrot is limited to high elevation forests of the Sierra Madre Occidental of northwestern Mexico, in the states of Chihuahua, Sonora and Durango. The winter range is less well known but extends south and east, possibly as far south as Veracruz.