The habitat of the sturgeon chub is murky river bottoms in fast-flowing streams with gravel bottoms. Its habitat extends over the Missouri River and its primary tributaries, the lower Mississippi River in the states of Mississippi and Louisiana, and some streams in northeastern Wyoming. Increased silt and the construction of dams (which cause silt to settle and slow river currents) have destroyed extensive portions of its habitat. It remains common in the middle Missouri River, but rare elsewhere. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) estimated in 2001 that it only inhabited about 59 percent of its former range.