This bird is an endemic resident breeder in the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama.

The sooty-capped chlorospingus is found in mossy mountain forests, second growth and adjacent bushy clearings, typically from 1600 m altitude to above the timberline.

The bulky cup nest is built on bank, in a dense bush, or hidden amongst epiphytes up to 11 m high in a tree.

This species is easily distinguished from common chlorospingus by its blacker head and obvious supercilium.

Sooty-capped chlorospinguss occur in small groups, or as part of a mixed-species feeding flock.