Skip to content

Monday, Jun 15, 2026

Can you be pulled over for having tinted windows in Colorado?

Cassis Tingley, The Colorado Sun
yes

Drivers in Colorado can be pulled over solely for having tinted windows that are too dark.

Under Colorado law, tinted windshields must transmit at least 70% of light, except for the top 4 inches, which may be covered in a “nontransparent material” that doesn’t distort the driver’s vision, affect their color perception or reflect light toward other motorists. 

State law establishes a minimum threshold of 27% light transmittance for the other front windows. Rear windows are exempt from that limit if the windshield and other front windows allow at least 70% of light to enter the vehicle. 

Window tint that is too dark can result in fines up to $100.

So far this year, the Colorado State Patrol has issued 210 tickets across the state for window-tint violations, compared with 480 in 2025. Troopers use a tint meter to measure window tint during traffic stops. 

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network.

See all fact briefs

The Colorado Sun is a journalist-founded, award-winning and nonprofit news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself. In this way, we believe we can contribute to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado. We are committed to fact-based, in-depth and nonpartisan journalism. We cover everything from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education. Our goal is to produce the best possible journalism. We do that with the help of you, our readers, and community backers. We launched on Sept. 10, 2018.

Learn More

Latest Fact Briefs

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.