The Smārta tradition is not confined to a single locality, yet it is far from evenly spread across the Hindu world. Its heartland lies in South India, where it has a particularly strong presence among Brahmin communities in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and also in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. In these regions, Smārta practice and Advaita Vedānta have been closely intertwined, supported by traditional monastic institutions and long-standing family lineages. This regional concentration gives the tradition a distinctive cultural and liturgical flavor that is most clearly visible in the South.

Beyond this core, Smārta communities and influences extend into other parts of India, especially Maharashtra, and to a lesser extent into various northern regions. While the formal, self-identified Smārta community is more limited outside the South, its theological and ritual patterns—such as the non-sectarian worship of multiple deities as manifestations of the same ultimate reality—have shaped broader Hindu practice. In many places, it coexists alongside Vaiṣṇava, Śaiva, Śākta, and other sectarian traditions, rather than displacing them or becoming the sole religious current.

The spread of South Indian populations has also carried Smārta practice into diaspora communities around the world. Wherever such communities have settled, elements of Smārta worship and Advaita-inspired outlook often appear, especially in households and temples that honor several deities without strong sectarian boundaries. Yet even in these settings, the tradition remains recognizably rooted in its South Indian origins, rather than becoming a uniformly dominant form of Hinduism. Overall, it may be described as regionally concentrated in institutional and communal terms, while exerting a wider, more diffuse influence on Hindu thought and worship.