A high-strength cold rolled steel sheet having a specified chemical composition and a method for producing the same. The steel sheet having a microstructure including, in terms of volume fraction, 35% or less of ferrite, 1% or more and 10% or less of retained austenite, 2% or more and 12% or less of as-quenched martensite, and a total of 25% to 70% of bainite and tempered martensite. The microstructure has an average crystal grain diameter of the ferrite: 5.0 μm or less, an average crystal grain diameter of the retained austenite: 2.0 μm or less, an average crystal grain diameter of the as-quenched martensite: 3.0 μm or less, an average crystal grain diameter of the bainite and the tempered martensite phase: 4.0 μm or less, and an average intergrain distance of the as-quenched martensite of 1.0 μm or more.