Wildlife managers often rely on population estimates, but estimates can be challenging to obtain for geographically widespread species. Spotlight surveys provide abundance data for many species and, when conducted over wide spatial scales, have the potential to provide population estimates of geographically widespread species. The bare-nosed wombat (Vombatus ursinus) has a broad geographic range and is subject to spotlight surveys. We used 19 years (2002–2020) of annual spotlight surveys to provide the first estimates of population abundance for two of the three extant bare-nosed wombat subspecies: V. u. ursinus on Flinders Island; and V. u. tasmaniensis on the Tasmanian mainland. Using distance sampling methods, we estimated annual rates of change and 2020 population sizes for both sub-species. Tasmanian mainland surveys included habitat data, which allowed us to also look for evidence of habitat associations for V. u. tasmaniensis. The average wombat density estimate was higher on Fli...