It ranges south in the Mississippi Valley to the Ozarks of eastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, Missouri, and northern Arkansas. In the Tennessee basin, it reaches northern Mississippi and Alabama. On the upland parts of the Atlantic slope, it ranges from northern South Carolina to southern New York. In New York, it occurs in the western and northern parts of the state but is absent from the Lower Hudson.
Fantail darters occur in riffle areas of streams where there are cobbles and gravel.
They are especially abundant in streams where there are chunks or slabs of limestone or shale. The life history of the fantail darter was studied in Black Creek, near Rochester. Spawning occurred in late April to mid-June after the water temperature reached 60 F. Males moved onto the spawning grounds, areas of moderate current above riffles, and selected their nest sites. These were usually flat rocks with a space about one-half inch high beneath them. A male cleaned his nest by wriggling his body into the crevice.