It is found in the United States, inhabiting the Columbia River drainage from Idaho, western Wyoming, and northeastern Nevada to western Washington and Oregon, and endorheic basins including Lake Tahoe in Nevada and California.

[2] It prefers rubble and gravel riffles of cold creeks and small to medium rivers.

Paiute sculpin also have two pre-opercular spines on the sides of its head in front of the gill cover, or operculum to distinguish them.

[6] The Paiute sculpin is found in Western United States in the Lahontan system, the Columbia River drainage which includes Lake Tahoe.

[8][3] They are reportedly in the states: Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, California, and Utah.

[3]  They are quite abundant and showed a clear dominance over other sculpin species in the Lapwai Creek watershed.

[7] The sculpin has also been found in the Little Wood River in Idaho and the Sagehen Creek in the Eastern Sierra Nevada in which they dominate the middle and bottom reach of the creak but are being pushed by the invasive species, signal crayfish.

[12][13] Paiute Sculpin are benthic-dwelling fish and remain strictly at the bottom of the cold waters they are found in.

[8] After those two weeks the young fish leave the nest and enter the current at night to be taken downstream.

[12] The crayfish are encroaching on the sculpin habitat and have been found to be affecting growth rates and gut fullness.