Desk height calculator: ergonomic desk, chair and monitor height

Desk height that fits your body

An ergonomic workstation puts your keyboard at elbow height, with your forearms roughly level and your shoulders relaxed. Because people differ, the right desk height depends mostly on your height. This calculator estimates the chair seat height, the sitting desk height, the standing desk height and your eye level, from your height and your shoe heels.

The estimates

The formulas come from average body proportions:

• Chair seat ≈ 25% of height + shoe heel
• Desk, sitting ≈ chair seat + 14.5% of height
• Desk, standing ≈ 63% of height + shoe heel
• Eye level, sitting ≈ chair seat + 45.5% of height
• Eye level, standing ≈ 93.6% of height + shoe heel

Legs and torsos vary, so treat the results as a starting point and fine-tune by feel.

Worked example

For someone 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) wearing 1-inch heels:

1. Chair seat: 0.25 × 69 + 1 = 18.3 in (46 cm).
2. Desk, sitting: 18.3 + 0.145 × 69 = 28.3 in (72 cm), a standard desk.
3. Standing desk: 0.63 × 69 + 1 = 44.5 in (113 cm).
4. Eye level sitting: about 49.6 in (126 cm) from the floor.

Desk heights by body height

Values include 1-inch heels.

If your desk is a fixed height

Standard desks are 28 to 30 inches high. If yours is too high, raise the chair until your elbows are level with the keyboard and use a footrest so your feet stay flat. If it is too low, use risers under the legs. A keyboard tray is another way to bring the keyboard down a couple of inches.

Setting up the rest

• Monitor: top edge at or just below eye level, about an arm’s length away.
• Chair: thighs roughly level, feet flat, lower back supported.
• Laptop: use a stand plus an external keyboard and mouse, since a laptop alone cannot have both the screen and the keyboard at the right height.
• Standing: alternate with sitting rather than standing all day.