What is the time zone of Colorado?

The state of Colorado is in the Mountain Time zone. All counties and cities of the state have the same time zone, there are no exceptions. Colorado is observing daylight savings so there are two different clocks depending on the time of the year.

  • Mountain Standard Time (MST): – 7:00 UTC/GMT (behind)
  • Mountain Daylight Time (MDT): – 6:00 UTC/GMT (behind)
Mountain Time
us state Colorado counties time zone map
USA time zone map 1
Click to enlarge

The vast majority of the neighbouring states are in the same zone (Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico and Nebraska). But you will be entering the Central Time zone when you cross the northern and southern border with Kansas or the border with Oklahoma.

Colorado Daylight savings time (DST)

Colorado is using daylight savings as also documented in the Uniform Time Act of 1966. During daylight savings the time changes from Mountain Standard time (MST) to Mountain Daylight time (MDT).

It starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. In March the clock is moved forward from 02.00 am to 03.00 am (so you will lose an hour of sleep during the night). While in November it’s reversed as the clock is moved backward from 03.00 am to 02.00 am and you will gain an extra hour of sleep. One way of remembering the movement sequence is that clocks “spring forward and fall back”.

The total period of daylight savings lasts for 34 weeks which is about 65% of the year.

Colorado time news, bills and legislation

There is a continuous debate about which time should be applied. Several bills have been introduced to legalize daylight saving time as the year-round clock, whereas others try to align the time with bordering counties or states. The table below gives an overview of the latest bills in the state of Colorado.

Date Bill Status/Action Title/summary
19 Feb 2020 SB105 Fail, Senate Committee on State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely Concerning the designation of daylight saving time as the standard year-round time within the state

Other US states

You can check out information and maps of other US states by clicking on the below links.