Throughout its range, the clouded leopard spends most of the time in the tropical evergreen rainforests but can also be found in dry tropical forests and mangrove swamps. It has been found at relatively high altitudes in the Himalayas. The clouded leopard's habitat is part of the Borneo Forests region, which is a WWF global priority region.

Clouded leopards range from the Himalayas, the south of China, and Taiwan to the Malaysian peninsula. It most often inhabits primary evergreen tropical forest and also lives in secondary forest, logged forest, dry tropical forest, grassland, mangrove swamp, scrub land, and coastal hardwood forest.