Prefers clear or tannin-stained moderate to fast flowing warm and cold water streams and rivers excluding the Mississippi and lower Wisconsin Rivers. This species is highly terrestrial, spending days to months away from water in late spring and summer in lowland hardwood forests, some upland forests and in a variety of wetland habitats adjacent to riverine corridors. In smaller streams wood turtles prefer to hibernate by climbing into the exposed roots in bank undercuts or in deeper pools. In larger rivers they may lie on the substrate in fast running stretches where ice encroachment will not be a problem. They may remain somewhat active underwater after ice-up.
Home range varies considerably among individuals and age classes.
Young turtles may use only a small portion of the stream or river shoreline habitat whereas gravid females are known to travel along riverine corridors as far as 10 miles to reach a communal nesting site. Home range in upland habitat varies significantly between populations. Wood turtles are communal nesters, with females congregating from several riverine miles if sandy nesting sites near rivers are scarce. In rivers where nesting sites are abundant they will be less congregated. Colonial nesting behavior often results in extremely high nest predation with medium-sized mammal populations being high.