 It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 190,000 km2.Woodhouse's antpecker inhabits subtropical or tropical lowland moist forest at Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.In Uganda it can be seen in Budongo Central Forest Reserve within the Nature Reserve known as N15 (Nyakafunjo Block 15)

The name of this bird commemorates the American explorer and collector Samuel Washington Woodhouse.