Common persimmon grows in the moist, fertile soils of bottomland, hardwood hammocks, disturbed areas, pinelands, and sand ridges. Other species associated with persimmon include sycamore, red and sugar maple, loblolly, slash, and longleaf pines, yellow poplar, and several of the oaks and hickories.

It grows in the eastern Unted States, between Connecticut and Iowa in the north and between southern Florida and Texas in the south. The largest persimmons grow in the fertile bottomland of the Mississippi River Valley.