Myriopteris lanosa is found in the Appalachian Mountains from Connecticut southwest to Alabama, north through middle Tennessee into the Shawnee Hills and west through the Ozarks. Outlying populations can be found ranging to Wisconsin, the Oklahoma Panhandle, Louisiana, and west Florida. One specimen was collected by Edgar T. Wherry in Harrison, McLennan County, Texas, in 1925; while it is believed to be authentic, there is little suitable habitat in the county and extensive sand and gravel quarrying have rendered its relocation unlikely.