What Is Colorado’s Curfew for Minors and Teen Drivers?

Colorado does not have a statewide curfew for minors. Whether your child has to be home by a certain hour depends on the city or county you live in, because Colorado leaves general youth curfews to local governments.¹ One statewide rule does exist, but it is narrower than most people assume: newly licensed drivers under 18 cannot drive between midnight and 5:00 AM.

Local Curfews Vary City by City

Denver, Aurora, Boulder, Centennial, Lakewood, and Littleton all have curfew ordinances on the books.¹ Colorado Springs does not have a general youth curfew. Smaller towns are a mix. Because there is no single rule, you have to check the ordinance for the specific city your child is in, not just the one you live in. A curfew applies to anyone inside the city limits, including kids visiting from elsewhere.

Denver

Denver runs its curfew through a program called SafeNite. It covers anyone from 10 through 17 years old, and the hours split by day of the week:¹

Sunday through Thursday: 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM
Friday and Saturday: midnight to 5:00 AM

A minor picked up for a curfew violation in Denver is taken to a juvenile center, and parents are called to pick them up. Instead of pushing the case straight to court, Denver routes most kids into a diversion program. There is no enrollment cost, though some assigned services may carry small fees. Those fees still come in lower than court fines after a conviction.¹

Smaller Towns

Smaller municipalities often use simpler schedules. Simla, for example, sets a flat curfew of 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM every night for anyone under 18. A first violation within a 12-month period draws a $45 fine. Repeat violations in the same year can trigger a court summons and fines up to $700.²

Looking Up Your City’s Rule

Start with your city or town’s official website. Many Colorado municipalities publish their codes through services like Municode or American Legal Publishing, where a search for “curfew” will usually land you on the right section. If that fails, your local police department’s non-emergency line can give you the hours, the age range, and the main exceptions. Public libraries and city clerk offices can also pull the ordinance for you.

When the Curfew Does Not Apply

Most Colorado curfew ordinances carve out exceptions so that minors doing legitimate things at night are not swept up. The typical list covers a minor who is:

Accompanied by a parent or legal guardian
Traveling to or from lawful employment
Attending or returning from a school, religious, community, or athletic event with adult supervision

Simla’s ordinance follows this general pattern.² Some cities add others, like running an errand at a parent’s direction or responding to an emergency. The exact list depends on the ordinance, so read the actual text before you rely on an exception.

Parents Can Be Cited Too

Colorado local curfew ordinances frequently hold parents accountable alongside their children. Simla’s ordinance, for instance, makes it equally unlawful for a parent or guardian to “allow or permit” a minor to be out past curfew, and the parent faces the same fine schedule as the child.² If your teenager gets a curfew citation, you may get one too. In towns with escalating penalties, a parent who repeatedly ignores a child’s curfew violations can be looking at fines in the hundreds of dollars.

The Statewide Driving Curfew for Teen Drivers

Colorado’s graduated driver’s license law prohibits newly licensed drivers under 18 from operating a motor vehicle between midnight and 5:00 AM. This restriction applies everywhere in the state and covers the first year after the teen gets a license. A violation is a class A traffic infraction.³

This is a separate restriction from the local pedestrian curfews, and it is easy to mix them up. A teen who parks the car and walks around downtown at 1:00 AM might run afoul of a local curfew but not the driving curfew. A teen who drives across town at 2:00 AM in a city with no local curfew still violates the statewide driving rule. If your newly licensed teen lives in a city with no youth curfew, they are still not allowed on the road overnight.

Emergency Curfews Are Different

One more thing worth flagging so you are not caught off guard by news coverage. Colorado’s governor can impose curfew-like restrictions during a declared disaster emergency, with authority to control entry, exit, and movement of all people within a disaster area.⁴ Those orders apply to everyone, not just minors, and they only last as long as the emergency declaration. They are not what people usually mean when they ask about Colorado’s curfew for minors, but they are the reason a wildfire or civil disturbance can suddenly put the whole area under a stay-indoors order.

1
City and County of Denver. SafeNite Curfew Program Frequently Asked Questions
2
Simla Code of Ordinances. Simla Code of Ordinances 4-2-5 – Curfew, Minors (Under Eighteen Years of Age)
3
Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 42-2-105.5 – Restrictions on Minor Drivers Under Eighteen Years of Age – Penalties – Legislative Declaration
4
Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 24-33.5-704 – Governor May Declare Disaster Emergency