In summer, the emperor goose is found in remote coastal areas near the Bering Sea in arctic and sub-arctic Alaska and the Russian Far East, where it breeds in monogamous pairs.

It migrates south to winter in ice-free mudflats and coasts in Alaska, mostly the Aleutian Islands, and Canada's British Columbia, rarely reaching the contiguous United States.

Listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the species' population is declining due to threats such as pollution, hunting, and climate change.

[8] The emperor goose has a stout blue-gray body,[6] with spots of black and white, which cause it to have a "scaled appearance".

The head of adults frequently turns to a reddish-brown color in summer, due to its feeding in tidal pools with iron oxide.

Goslings are also distinguished from adults by having gray, brown, or black feet and an area of white surrounding the bill for the first three weeks after hatching.

Juveniles (i.e. immature specimens older than goslings) are mostly gray colored, with a small amount of white on their feathers.

[12] In the summer, the species' diet consists of vegetation, such as shoots, roots, and berries, while in the winter it primarily eats bivalve molluscs (which it uses its sense of touch to catch)[13] and algae.

[12] During the summer, the emperor goose lives in Arctic and subarctic climates in the Bering Sea, around Alaska and a small part of northeast Russia.

Some areas in California the species has been found living in, as of 1918, include Humboldt Bay, Gridley, Davis, Rio Vista, Colusa County, Ingomar, Modesto, and Dixon.

[11] Its habitats are mudflats and rocky shores in the winter,[14] in areas free of ice,[17] and tundra wetlands in the summer.

In 1923, however, Arthur Cleveland Bent observed much fewer specimens, and reported that the population had decreased over the past 30 years prior to that.

Bent said that "large numbers are killed each year and their eggs taken by the natives, even within the limits of what is supposed to be a reservation", which was a major reason for the goose's decrease in population.

[1] Julian Fischer, a wildlife biologist, said in a news article published in August 2017, that the population has been experiencing a slow, steady increase.

[18] Although the reasons for the emperor goose's population decline are not well known, it is believed to be threatened by oil pollution, hunting, and climate change.

[1] Other factors contributing to the species' population decline include competing with the cackling goose for food and the preying of goslings.

In fall 2017, emperor geese were allowed to be hunted for recreational purposes by locals of Alaska with a permit, with a limit of one bird per person.