This rodent is native to South America where it occurs in the high Andes of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Its altitudinal range is between . Its range includes the Cordillera Central in Colombia where there is a separate population, and extends through the Cordillera Occidental and Cordillera Oriental of Ecuador, to the Andes of northern Peru, as far south as Junin. Its typical habitat is moist subalpine forest and páramo, a high altitude grassland.