Cebus olivaceus is found in primary forest.

Cebus olivaceus Schomburgk, 1848 – is found in the Venezuelan Amazon Basin from the upper Rio Orinoco, and throughout the Orinoco savanna above the mouth of the Rio Meta, as far N and W as the Sierra de Perij and the Venezuelan Coastal Range (Cordillera de la Costa), to the left bank of the Rio Essequibo in W Guyana, in forests of the Guiana Shield. Distributional limits separating the two subspecies are not sufficiently known. In Brazil, it is restricted to the Rio Branco/Rio Araca interfluvial area in the states of Roraima and Amazonas.

According to Global Forest Watch data for those regions of Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil in which this species occurs, projected forest loss over the course of the current and subsequent two generations (2019-2066) will be 10% or less.