This species is primarily montane, occupying chaparral-covered slopes upward to coniferous forests (Best et al. 1996). It prefers easily excavated sandy or gravelly soils for constructing burrows, typically on steep slopes. Abundance increases following fires that create open space (Price and Waser 1984). Nests are in underground burrows. No reproductive information is available, but they probably produce an average of two young per litter. Diet is likely to be similar to other closely related species that feed primarily on seeds but also eat some insects and green vegetation. This species is nocturnal.

This species is found in the United States in the Los Angeles Basin and foothills of San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains in Ventura, Los Angeles, and Riverside counties north to Santa Barbara County and through the southern Sierra Nevada, including Mount Pinos, Tehachapi and San Gabriel mountains, and northern San Fernando Valley (Sullivan and Best 1997). Populations extending southward into Baja California are now allocated to Dipodomys simulans (Sullivan and Best 1997).

Probably several occurrences of this species are in protected areas such as state parks.