Window Tint Laws: How Dark Can You Legally Go?

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Front windshield tint: what the AS-1 line actually allows

The windshield is the most misread row on this page, because the number most drivers quote is the front side window limit and not the windshield one. Almost every jurisdiction writes a separate windshield rule, and most of them do not express it as a percentage at all.

Counts are drawn from the jurisdiction rows below and overlap on purpose. Texas writes a strip rule and a percentage in one sentence; New York writes a percentage and an inch measure. There are 29 distinct wordings across the 51 US jurisdictions and 6 across the 13 Canadian ones, of which 1 is used on both sides of the border. That is why a single North American number for windshield tint does not exist.

The two columns are not one rule written two ways. The AS-1 line is a mark applied to the glass under the US federal glazing standard, and it is not part of Canadian vehicle standards, which is why that row reads 0 on the Canadian side. Merging the two countries reports 36 against 64 and hides both facts at once: that 36 of 51 US jurisdictions write their rule around the AS-1 mark, and that 0 of the 13 Canadian ones do.

The bottom row inverts across the border. Banning windshield film outright is rare in the United States at 2 jurisdictions of 51, and it is the Canadian norm at 8 of 13. Read as a single 10 it looks like a minority position in both countries, which is the opposite of what the rows below say.

The AS-1 line is not something an installer draws. It is a mark the glass maker puts on the windshield itself, usually a small AS-1 etched near the edge, and it sits at the bottom of the shaded band the factory already built into the glass. Where a state permits a strip, that mark is where the strip has to stop.

A windshield tint strip, also called a visor band or a brow, is the only windshield film most states allow. It is a shallow band across the top that cuts low sun without touching the driver's view of the road, and because it is small it is the cheapest job most tint shops quote. The window tint cost page carries the price band for it alongside the full-car figures.

Drivers searching for 50 windshield tint or 70 windshield tint are usually asking about film across the whole glass rather than a strip, which only the 6 US states and 2 provinces in the percentage row above permit. Where it is allowed, 70% film is close to clear and is the shade that passes inspection in the strictest of those states; 50% is visibly darker and legal in fewer places; 35% on a windshield is outside the limit almost everywhere.

Ceramic film changes what the glass does about heat, not what the law allows. A ceramic windshield film at 70% rejects real infrared while staying at a shade that a percentage state will accept, which is the whole reason it gets fitted to a windshield at all. The legal question is decided by the shade, not the technology.

Your own jurisdiction's windshield rule is the fourth column in the tables below, quoted from the statute rather than summarized.

United States: tint limits in all 50 states + D.C.

Figures are for aftermarket film on passenger sedans; most states let SUVs, vans, and trucks run darker behind the driver, noted per row. Recent movers: Louisiana, North Dakota, and Utah all loosened their limits in 2025, and Iowa's front-side minimum dropped to 50% on July 1, 2026.

Canada: tint limits by province and territory

Canada runs stricter up front than almost any U.S. state: nine of thirteen jurisdictions prohibit aftermarket film on front side windows outright, and medical exemptions are largely absent. Behind the driver, by contrast, most provinces allow any darkness so long as the vehicle keeps both outside mirrors.

Tint law questions, answered