Colorado Age Laws: Consent, Driving, Work, and Marriage

Colorado’s age laws set a different threshold for almost every right and restriction that depends on how old you are. The headline number is 18, when you reach the age of majority and gain full legal capacity to sign contracts, consent to your own medical care, vote, and sue or be sued in your own name.¹ But driving, drinking, working, marrying, and consenting to sex or medical treatment each run on their own clock, and the ages don’t line up.

Age of Majority

At 18, you can sign a lease, open a bank account in your own name, enter enforceable contracts, and make your own medical decisions without parental involvement.¹ You become eligible for jury duty and voter registration, and your parents are no longer financially responsible for agreements you sign.

One important carve-out: money or property held for you in a Colorado Uniform Transfers to Minors Act account stays under the custodian’s control until you turn 21, not 18. If a grandparent or parent set up a UTMA account for you, the extra three-year wait is built into the statute, not something the custodian is choosing.

Age of Sexual Consent

Colorado’s age of sexual consent is 17. Sexual contact with someone 17 or older is not a crime based on age alone. Below 17, the law uses close-in-age tiers that look at the gap between the two people rather than a single bright line.²

If the younger person is 15 or 16, sexual contact is a crime only when the other person is at least ten years older. A 16-year-old and a 22-year-old fall outside the statute; a 16-year-old and a 27-year-old do not. The offense is a class 6 felony.
If the younger person is under 15, sexual contact is a class 4 felony when the other person is at least four years older. Two 14-year-olds, or a 14-year-old and a 17-year-old, are not covered. A 14-year-old and a 19-year-old are.

Driving Ages

Colorado phases in driving privileges through a graduated licensing system rather than opening the road all at once.³

A 15-year-old can get a learner’s permit and drive with a supervising adult. The permit has to be held for 12 full months, or until the driver turns 18, whichever comes first. At 16, after meeting all requirements, a teen can receive a minor driver’s license, but restrictions follow the license for a year.

During the first six months with a minor license, the only passengers allowed are people 21 or older, with an exception for siblings. For the next six months, one passenger under 21 is permitted. Passenger limits lift entirely at the one-year mark or at age 18. A midnight-to-5 a.m. driving curfew also applies during that first year, with exceptions for driving to work or school with documentation, medical emergencies, and trips with a parent in the car.³

Drivers under 18 cannot use a cell phone behind the wheel at all, including for texting. The only exception is an emergency call to police.

When Minors Can Consent to Their Own Healthcare

Colorado lets minors consent to several categories of care on their own, and the age depends on the service.

General Medical Care

A minor who is 15 or older, lives apart from their parents, and manages their own finances can consent to medical, dental, and surgical care on the same terms as an adult.⁴ The same goes for any minor who has been legally married. Everyone else under 18 needs a parent or guardian’s consent as the default.

Mental Health Services

Any minor 15 or older can consent to outpatient mental health services from a licensed facility or professional, with or without a parent’s knowledge.⁵ The treating professional may tell the parent but is not required to. Inpatient treatment is not covered by this provision.

For outpatient psychotherapy specifically, the age drops to 12. A licensed mental health professional can treat a child that young without parental consent if the professional finds the minor is voluntarily seeking services and that treatment is clinically necessary.⁶

Reproductive Care

A minor of any age can get contraception from a licensed provider without parental notification or consent.⁷ A pregnant minor can also consent to her own prenatal, delivery, and postpartum care tied to a live birth.⁸

Abortion is different. A doctor must notify the minor’s parent or guardian before performing an abortion on someone under 18 unless the minor is emancipated, has been abused by a parent or guardian, or faces a medical emergency. A minor who doesn’t meet an exception can petition the court for a judicial bypass of the notification requirement.⁹

School Attendance

Every child who has turned 6 by August 1 of the school year must attend school until they turn 17.¹⁰ Once a student turns 17, the attendance mandate ends.

Several alternatives satisfy the requirement for students under 17. Accredited private or parochial schools covering reading, writing, math, history, civics, literature, and science qualify. So does home-based education through a licensed teacher or an approved home-school program. Students with a work permit issued under the Youth Employment Opportunity Act are also exempt, though the permit itself goes through school and parent approval.¹⁰

Working Ages and Hours

The minimum working age in Colorado is 14, with narrow exceptions for agriculture and entertainment that apply to younger children.¹¹

Minors under 16 cannot work during school hours on school days. Outside of school hours, they can work up to six hours when the following day is not a school day. Every minor under 18 is capped at eight hours in a 24-hour period and 40 hours in a week.¹¹ Federal rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act set tighter limits for 14- and 15-year-olds (three hours on a school day, 18 hours in a school week), and the more protective standard wins.

Colorado doesn’t require a general work permit for minors. A 14- or 15-year-old who wants to work during school hours does need a school release permit, which the school can issue for up to 30 days with parent approval and employer confirmation that the work is not hazardous.¹² Hazardous jobs involving heavy machinery, explosives, or toxic chemicals are off-limits to anyone under 18.

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Gambling

Possession or consumption of alcohol by anyone under 21 is a strict liability offense in Colorado, so no intent requirement applies.¹³ The statute has one narrow exception for a person under 21 who possesses and consumes on private property with the owner’s knowledge and the consent and physical presence of a parent or legal guardian. Culinary students tasting alcohol under instructor supervision in an accredited postsecondary program are also exempt.

The minimum age to buy any tobacco or nicotine product, including e-cigarettes and vape liquids, is 21 under federal law, with no exception for military service or any other category.¹⁴

Gambling age depends on the activity. Casino gambling and poker rooms require a minimum age of 21. The lottery, bingo, and pari-mutuel wagering are open at 18.

Marriage Age

Colorado prohibits marriage for anyone under 16. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds can marry only with judicial approval; parental consent on its own is no longer enough. The court has to find the marriage is in the minor’s best interest before a license issues. At 18, no court or parental involvement is needed.

This has been the rule since 2019. Before then, 15-year-olds could marry with a judge’s approval, and 16- and 17-year-olds had the option of either judicial or parental consent.

When a Juvenile Can Be Tried as an Adult

Colorado runs a separate juvenile justice system for people under 18, oriented toward rehabilitation. Two mechanisms move cases out of it.

A prosecutor can “direct file” charges against a juvenile in adult district court when the juvenile is at least 16 and is accused of a Class 1 or Class 2 felony, a violent sexual assault, another violent felony with a prior felony adjudication on record, or any offense if the juvenile has been direct-filed or transferred before.¹⁵

The juvenile court itself can transfer cases involving younger defendants. A juvenile as young as 12 or 13 can be transferred for a Class 1 or Class 2 felony or a crime of violence, and a juvenile 14 or older can be transferred for any felony, provided the court finds that keeping the case in juvenile court would not serve the child’s or the public’s best interests.¹⁶ The court weighs the seriousness of the alleged offense, the juvenile’s maturity, their home environment, prior record, and whether the juvenile system can realistically rehabilitate.

Emancipation and Voter Pre-Registration

Colorado does not have a standalone emancipation statute. There is no process for a self-supporting teenager to walk into a courthouse, file an emancipation petition, and come out legally independent. A minor who is already a party to a family court proceeding can raise the issue inside that case, and a court can effectively recognize independent status in the course of other litigation. For most practical purposes, though, the specific age-based consent rules above are what let a Colorado minor act on their own.

Voter pre-registration is open to 16- and 17-year-olds. The registration stays inactive until the person turns 18, at which point it becomes active automatically.¹⁷ Pre-registration uses the same methods adults use, including the online system.

1
Justia. Colorado Code 13-22-101 – Competence of Persons Eighteen Years of Age or Older
2
Justia. Colorado Code 18-3-402 – Sexual Assault
3
Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles. Permits and First-Time Driver License
4
Justia. Colorado Code 13-22-103 – Minors – Consent for Medical, Dental, and Related Care
5
Justia. Colorado Code 27-65-104 – Voluntary Applications for Mental Health Services
6
Justia. Colorado Code 12-245-203.5 – Minors
7
Justia. Colorado Code 13-22-105 – Contraceptive Procedures, Supplies, and Information
8
Justia. Colorado Code 13-22-103.5 – Pregnant Minors – Authorization for Medical Care
9
Colorado Judicial Branch. Obtaining Permission to Terminate a Pregnancy for Women Under Age 18
10
Justia. Colorado Code 22-33-104 – Compulsory School Attendance
11
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Colorado Youth Employment Opportunity Act CRS 8-12-101 et seq
12
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. INFO 22 – Employment of Minors in Colorado
13
FindLaw. Colorado Code 18-13-122 – Illegal Possession or Consumption of Ethyl Alcohol by an Underage Person
14
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Tobacco 21
15
Justia. Colorado Code 19-2.5-801 – Direct Filing – Definition
16
FindLaw. Colorado Code 19-2.5-802 – Transfers
17
Vote.gov. Preparing to Vote – Age 18 and Under