The bald cypress is typically a tree of permanent swamps, river channels, and floodplains, where it occurs in extensive pure stands, or occasionally with water tupelo.

On somewhat higher ground, it is found with bottomland hardwoods such as American elm, red maple, green ash, sweetgum, and some oaks. It grows best on deep, moist, sandy loams, but it is rarely found on such sites because of its inability to compete with hardwoods.

It occurs in the coastal plains along the Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean, and north up through the Mississippi River Valley.