This is predominantly a species of open grassland, scrub and arid savannas in the drier, semi-arid, western parts of southern Africa. Because of its use of burrows, rocky and hard soils are avoided (Taylor 2013). It is predominantly insectivorous, but opportunistic and will hunt rodents, birds, other vertebrates and arachnids (Taylor 2013). The Yellow Mongoose is the primary host for the viverrid strain of rabies endemic to the interior plateau of South Africa, where Yellow Mongoose population densities are highest. The role of the Yellow Mongoose as a maintenance host is promoted by its diurnal and colonial, burrow-living habits (Taylor 2013).

This species is confined to southern Africa, with a marginal intrusion into extreme southwestern Angola. Within this range, it  occupies the drier western parts, being widespread in Namibia, Botswana and much of central and western South Africa, but absent from the Namib Desert and Caprivi Strip in Namibia, the Okavango Delta in Botswana, Zimbabwe (except for an extreme western record), and the easterly regions of southern Africa (Taylor 2013). It is probably extinct from Lesotho (N. Avenant pers. comm. 2013).

The Yellow Mongoose occurs in numerous protected areas across its range in southern Africa, including Etosha N. P., the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, West Coast N. P., Mountain Zebra N.P., Addo N. P. and the Great Fish River Reserve.