Most Chuvans today live within Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the far northeast of Russia.

Based on first-hand field research by several ethnographers in the 1990s, people who self-identify as Chuvans seem to do so by living in small villages and in the tundra in areas that are primarily associated with reindeer herding.

In the 18th century, some Chuvans retreated to the Kolyma River following attacks by the Chukchi.

On the other hand, some, such as those living in the village of Markovo on the Anadyr River, neither herd reindeer nor are they able to speak Chukchi.

Ethnographic maps shows the Chuvans as the indigenous population of the Chuvanskoye village some 100 km west of Markovo.