Ergonomic Desk Height Calculator

There is no perfect desk height. There is a perfect range. The calculator on this page gives you yours in inches, based on the shoes you actually wear while working.

If you searched calculate desk height or ergonomic desk height calculator, you were probably hoping for one number. Here is the number. Here is also why one number is slightly wrong, and what to do instead.

The Wrong Question

Most online desk height calculators give you one value. That value assumes you have an average torso-to-leg ratio, you sit perfectly still, you never wear shoes, and your spine has no opinions. None of this is true.

Two people who are both 5'10'' can need desks an inch apart. A long torso on short legs wants a different desk than a short torso on long legs. The "perfect desk height" is a fiction the office furniture industry keeps repeating because a single number is easier to sell than a range.

The Right Question

Where should the desk sit so your forearms are parallel to the floor, your shoulders are not lifted, and your screen is at or just below your eye line?

The math:

• Sitting desk height: elbow height while seated, shoulders relaxed, feet flat. For most adults, 24''–30''.
• Standing desk height: elbow height while standing relaxed, with a small drop for typing comfort. For most adults, 36''–47''.
• Screen height: top of the monitor at or just below your eye line. The calculator above returns your sitting eye height so you can place the monitor without guessing.

The standing desk height calculator on this page takes your height — in the shoes you wear while working, don't skip them, they add an inch you keep forgetting about — and returns a range, not a single number. That is deliberate.

The Range Matters More Than the Number

The best desk height is two desk heights. Sitting and standing. Switched often.

The signal in most desk-posture research is small. The signal you can actually act on is large: change position before your body asks you to. Set your sit height correctly. Set your stand height correctly. Switch every 30–60 minutes. You have solved most of the problem. The rest is tuning.

What This Calculator Cannot See

• Your torso-to-leg ratio
• Your shoe stack
• Whether your chair seat pan tilts forward
• Whether your keyboard sits on the desk or on a tray
• Whether you use a wrist rest, split keyboard, or upright mouse
• Whether you slouch (everyone slouches eventually)

The output range covers most of this. If you land at the bottom of the range and your shoulders rise while typing, go up half an inch. If you land at the top and your elbows splay outward, go down half an inch. Tune empirically.