The Colorado Bureau of Investigation maintains the state's sex offender website and says on its front page what the site is not: it does not list every convicted sex offender in Colorado, because the bureau posts nothing about offenders convicted only of misdemeanor sex offenses or about juveniles adjudicated for sex crimes, and a complete list for a city, county or the whole state comes from the local police department, the county sheriff or the bureau itself, some police departments and sheriffs keeping their own websites under section 16-22-112 of the Revised Statutes. Four categories appear online: sexually violent predators, the highest risk offenders, most of them in prison and posted once they live or have lived in the community, the only category subject to community notification; multiple offenders, with two or more adult felony convictions for unlawful sexual behavior and one or more adult felony crimes of violence; adults with a felony sex offense conviction that requires registration who are currently registered; and offenders who failed to register or have a history of failing to register, whose possible whereabouts can be reported to the bureau's tip line at (303) 239-5732 or to local police. The 2005 revision of section 16-22-110 shaped the registry around a balance between offenders' expectations and the public's need to protect itself, victim information never appears, the records are updated hourly, and the web statistics page counted 19,538 registered sex offenders in Colorado on October 14, 2026, with 594 sexually violent predators, 2,280 multiple offenders, 2,251 failures to register and 15,578 felony convictions posted.
The bureau's Program Support Unit at 690 Kipling Street, Suite 4000, Denver, CO 80215 answers at (303) 239-4222, by fax at (303) 239-5788 and at cdps.cbi.sor@state.co.us, corrects records, holds information the website leaves out, says whether a registrant works at a particular business when the local police cannot, and helps anyone a local police department could not. The user agreement every visitor accepts warns that name and birth date searches are not always accurate and only a fingerprint settles identity, that an address may be out of date, that mapped locations are the bureau's best effort, that the site lists only the offenses requiring registration so a fuller criminal history must be bought separately, and that harassing, endangering, intimidating or threatening a registrant, or vandalism and threats against a registrant's family or employer, can bring arrest; the bureau also warns that no private company may link to the site and that the direct address sor.state.co.us avoids outside monitoring. The police department or sheriff that registers offenders in each place is on the Colorado county pages.
- Search: the CBI website by name or map for adult felony offenders, sexually violent predators, multiple offenders and failures to register; misdemeanor only offenders and juveniles come only from the local police, the sheriff or the bureau on request.
- Registration: within five business days of release or notice, the next business day after an unsupervised prison release, with the city police inside city limits or the sheriff outside, then every year within five business days of the birthday with a photograph and fingerprints.
- Quarterly for life: sexually violent predators and adults convicted of felony sexual assault, sexual assault on a child, sexual assault by a person in a position of trust or a psychotherapist, or incest register every three months for life.
- Removal: a court petition to discontinue after 20 years for a class 1, 2 or 3 felony, 10 years for a class 4, 5 or 6 felony or first degree misdemeanor sexual contact and 5 years for other misdemeanors, never for predators, multiple offenders or quarterly registrants.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Colorado's own systems: the Colorado Bureau of Investigation sex offender registry home page, the registry's registration information page, the registry's sexually violent predator and community notification page, the registry's search agreement, the registry's web statistics page, the registry's notifications page, the registry's forms page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Who registers, and the temporary resident rule
The bureau's registration page lists the people who must register: anyone convicted in Colorado on or after July 1, 1991 of an unlawful sexual offense under section 18-3-411(1), enticement of a child or internet luring of a child, or convicted elsewhere, in military or federal court included, of an offense that would be one of those, or released on or after that date from any corrections department after serving a sentence for one; and anyone convicted in Colorado on or after July 1, 1994 of an offense involving unlawful sexual behavior, or whose factual basis involved one, or released from a corrections department after serving such a sentence, including attempts, solicitations and conspiracies.
That list runs through sexual assault in its current and former degrees, unlawful sexual contact, sexual assault on a child, by a person in a position of trust and on a client by a psychotherapist, enticement of a child, incest and aggravated incest, trafficking in children, sexual exploitation of children and procurement of a child for it, indecent exposure, soliciting for child prostitution, pandering, procurement, keeping a place of child prostitution, pimping and inducement of child prostitution, patronizing a prostituted child, engaging in sexual conduct under section 18-7-701, wholesale and ordinary promotion of obscenity to a minor, class 4 felony internet luring, internet sexual exploitation of a child, a second public indecency within five years or a third at any time, invasion of privacy for sexual gratification and second degree kidnapping under 18-3-302(3)(a).
Anyone convicted elsewhere who is, was or would be required to register in the state of conviction registers while a temporary or permanent resident of Colorado. Convicted includes a guilty verdict, a guilty or nolo contendere plea, a juvenile disposition or adjudication and a deferred judgment or adjudication. A temporary resident is anyone employed in Colorado, paid or not, for more than 14 consecutive business days or more than 30 days in a calendar year, anyone enrolled in any educational institution, or anyone present for more than 14 consecutive business days or 30 days in a year for any purpose, vacation, travel and retirement included, and registers within five business days of arrival.
A person lacks a fixed residence when sleeping outdoors or in places not designed as living accommodations, or when staying less than 14 days in temporary housing, a shelter or a residential treatment program.
Registering: five business days, the birthday, and quarterly for life
Registration happens during business hours within five business days of release into the community or of receiving a notice to register, and the next business day for someone released from the Department of Corrections without supervision; a registrant living inside a city or town registers at the police department, one living outside at the county sheriff's department, and one with several residences with the agency of each. Every registrant re-registers annually within five business days before or after the birth date, provides a current photograph and a complete set of fingerprints at each registration and pays whatever fee the local agency imposes.
Registration is quarterly, every three months for the rest of the registrant's life, for anyone found to be a sexually violent predator, for anyone convicted as an adult in Colorado of felony sexual assault or its former first and second degree forms, sexual assault on a child, sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, sexual assault on a client by a psychotherapist or incest and aggravated incest, and for anyone convicted elsewhere of an offense that requires quarterly registration there or would here; everyone else registers annually.
A registrant moving into Colorado registers with the agency for the new address within five business days, a change or an additional residence within the same jurisdiction is reported to that agency, a legal name change means re-registering within five business days, a move to another state is reported to the Colorado agencies and to the police of the new city or town, and a registrant without a fixed residence self verifies in person at least monthly when subject to quarterly registration and at least every three months when subject to annual registration.
Under the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act the registrant reports enrollment, employment or volunteering at any Colorado post secondary institution and every change in it. Failing to meet any requirement is the crime of failure to register as a sex offender, a felony when the original sex offense was a felony and a misdemeanor when it was a misdemeanor, and the forms page carries the registration form with its address, electronic identifier, employment, education and vehicle addenda, all signed in the presence of the registering officer.
Sexually violent predators and community notification
The predator page explains the two routes to the designation. The Colorado route applies to an offender who was 18 or older at the offense, or younger but tried as an adult, whose crime was committed on or after July 1, 1997 with a conviction on or after July 1, 1999, for sexual assault, unlawful sexual contact, sexual assault on a child or sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, attempts, solicitations and conspiracies included, where the victim was a stranger or someone with whom the offender built a relationship primarily for sexual victimization; probation or the Department of Corrections, with an evaluator approved by the Sex Offender Management Board, administers an assessment instrument covering mental abnormality, prior sexual convictions and the risk factors for sexual reoffense, and when the score meets the criteria recommends the designation to the court or the parole board, which decides at its discretion.
The second route is an equivalency determination by the Department of Public Safety for an offender moving in from another state who was assessed or labeled at the highest registration and notification level there and meets Colorado's age, date and conviction requirements. Every designated predator is subject to community notification under section 16-13-903, carried out by the local law enforcement agency under the board's criteria and protocol, either passively, through the public list and website, or actively, through a public meeting or an electronic notification process.
The page's own answers put the designation in proportion: most predators are in prison and some are released to parole with treatment or granted community supervision, predators are less than 20 percent of convicted sex offenders and not all of the dangerous ones, risk assessment is imperfect, and the most dangerous offender is the one undetected or not complying with registration, treatment or supervision.
Lists from the CBI: $20 for adults, free for a named juvenile
Anyone may request a list of adult registrants from the bureau by mail or in person on a downloadable form, and receives it within 10 business days for a $20 fee payable by credit card on a separate form; the list covers only adults convicted of a sex offense who are in compliance with the registration laws, never anyone registered solely for a juvenile adjudication or disposition, and gives the name, date of birth, addresses, the offense that led to registration, the offense date, the conviction date and aliases, with nothing about victims.
Information about a named juvenile comes on a written request by mail, email or in person, free of charge within 10 business days, after the requester affirms a need for it in writing and affirms that the record will not be published or posted online, used for financial gain or used to harass, intimidate, coerce or distress anyone, a false statement or a violation of section 16-22-110(6) being an unclassified misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000 per violation; the reply gives the registration status, full name, aliases, date of birth, current addresses, a photograph if requested and readily available, the offense and its date, and nothing limits the victim's access.
How long, and the petition to stop
A sex offender registers until a court orders otherwise. A registrant with no later conviction for unlawful sexual behavior may petition the court to discontinue registration or website posting 20 years after final release from the court's jurisdiction for a class 1, 2 or 3 felony that is not a quarterly offense, 10 years for a class 4, 5 or 6 felony or for third degree sexual assault or unlawful sexual contact as a class 1 misdemeanor, 5 years for other misdemeanors, after successful completion and dismissal of a deferred sentence or adjudication, and after completion and discharge of the sentence for anyone under 18 when adjudicated; sexually violent predators, multiple offenders and quarterly registrants are never eligible.
A registrant posted for failure to register may petition to remove that designation after one year of full compliance under section 18-3-412.5(3.6)(a)(IV)(A), the petition form comes from the state courts, and an order discontinuing registration goes to the registering agency and the bureau.
Where a registrant may live, and the weekly alerts
The State of Colorado has no law restricting where a sex offender may live, as the bureau states plainly: a supervising officer decides where a registrant under criminal justice supervision may live according to the person's risk and needs, several Colorado municipalities have ordinances keeping sex offenders away from schools, parks or day care centers, and the bureau cites a 2009 white paper prepared for the Sex Offender Management Board finding such laws hard to enforce and counterproductive to community safety.
The notifications page offers a free subscription for anyone who creates an account, sending an email once a week whenever a registrant's information changes in a chosen ZIP Code, with settings changed under My Account, the account deleted to stop all notices, and the account disabled if three emails bounce.
Reading a Colorado result
A listing on the bureau's site means an adult felony registrant in one of the four posted categories, with the registration frequency, annual or quarterly, following the offense and the predator designation; a person absent from the site may hold a misdemeanor conviction, a juvenile adjudication or a court order ending registration, so the local police, the sheriff or a $20 bureau list settles it. The registering agency holds the file, the court that sentenced the person decides any petition to stop, and the local agency, not the state, decides who hears about a sexually violent predator.
Questions about the Colorado sex offender registry
Related Colorado records
Colorado's other public records are covered on this site: the Colorado arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, the Colorado inmate search guide for the Department of Corrections and county jail lookups, the Colorado background check guide for the bureau's records check, and the Colorado county pages for every sheriff and police department.