It is found in Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Maldives, Mozambique, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

The sooty gull is named in honour of the German naturalist Wilhelm Hemprich who died in 1825 while on a scientific expedition to Egypt and the Middle East with his friend Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg.

It occurs as a vagrant in India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and Bahrain.

It frequents ports and harbours, the coast, inshore islands and the intertidal zone.

The population trend is believed to be downwards but the rate of decrease is insufficient to warrant listing the bird in a more threatened category.