It is native to an area of the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia. A. arida has a scattered, wide distribution within the Pilbara but generally does not dominate the vegetation. It can form dense stands on many hilltops, called sky islands, particularly in the Hamersley Range. Grows in skeletal sandy soils along shallow, ephemeral watercourses or on slopes of hills and in breakaways it will also grow in red sandy loam or coarse, gravelly, skeletal sandy soils over laterite or sandstone. Often a part of spinifex or low, open Eucalypt woodland communities.