Butternut is distributed from southeastern New Brunswick throughout the New England States except for northern Maine and Cape Cod. Its range extends south to include northern New Jersey, western Maryland, Virginia, and Tennessee. Small isolated pockets occur in North Carolina, northwestern South Carolina, northern Georgia, northern Alabama, northern Mississippi, and Arkansas. Westward it is found in eastern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota.
Disjunct populations occur in Wisconsin, Michigan, and northeast into Ontario and Quebec.
Throughout most of its range, butternut is not a common tree and its frequency is declining.