Sallow sedge grows in sedge meadows, swamps, ditches and other marshy places in eastern North America, from eastern Canada south to the Gulf coast and west to the Midwest. It forms tussocks and spreads slowly by short rhizomes. In Quebec it is native, and it is rated of Least Concern by the IUCN.
Carex lurida was described by Göran Wahlenberg, and the epithet lurida means pale yellow or sallow, a reference to the pale spikes. It has several older synonyms, including Carex tentaculata. Its range extends south to Central and South America, and it has been introduced to New Zealand.