[2] The seal salamander can be found from southwestern Pennsylvania and south through Appalachian Mountains areas of high elevation in West Virginia, western Maryland, western and northern Virginia, eastern Kentucky, western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, western South Carolina, and northern Georgia to central Alabama.

There are also disjunctive populations in southern Alabama as well as at the very western end of the Florida panhandle.

The total adult population size of the species is assumed to exceed 100,000.

[1] The genus name Desmognathus refers to the characteristic bundle of ligaments that connect to the jaw in this species group.

The specific epithet monticola comes from Latin and means "mountaineer" or "highlander," in reference to the high-elevations where this species is commonly found.