Adjusting desk height: the right height for sitting and standing

Most people adjust their desk exactly once, on the day they set it up, and never touch it again. Then they wonder why they have a stiff neck. The right height isn’t a matter of taste; it’s simply geometry: it depends on your height and the length of your forearm. Here’s how to find it in three minutes, for sitting and standing.

How do I calculate the right desk height?

The seated desk height is approximately 40.5 percent of your height, and the standing height approximately 60 percent. At a height of 175 cm, that works out to around 71 cm seated and 105 cm standing. These two factors come from standard ergonomics tables and are accurate to within one or two centimetres for most people.

Why only approximately? Because the formula uses your height, but your sitting height and forearm length are what really matter. Two people who are 178 cm tall can have a six-centimetre difference in their ideal desk height if one has long legs and a short torso while the other has the opposite build.

Here’s the key point: the formula provides the starting value; your body fine-tunes it. The test is simple and requires no tape measure. Sit down, relax your shoulders, and place your forearms on the desktop. If the height is right, your upper and lower arms form a right angle and your wrists remain straight rather than bent. If you raise your shoulders, the desk is too high. If you slump and your neck tilts forward, it’s too low.

Calculator: your sitting and standing heights

Enter your height. The calculator uses the factors above and gives you four values: seated desk height, standing desk height, chair seat height, and the approximate top edge of the monitor above the floor. Use the figures as a starting point, then adjust based on how it feels.

The monitor height refers to the sitting position and means the top edge of the screen, not the centre. It should be at or just below eye level.

Which desk height is right for which body height?

The table shows the starting values for both positions based on body height, along with the appropriate chair seat height. All values are rounded and apply to a standard office chair with flat shoes.

Two things that are almost never included in tables like these. First: If you usually wear shoes with heels, add the heel height to the standing position. Second: If you mainly work on a laptop without an external keyboard, set the desk one centimetre lower than calculated because the keyboard sits higher than a flat external one.

How do I adjust my workstation in four steps?

The correct order is chair, desk, monitor, feet. Anyone who starts with the desk will have to adjust everything again afterwards, because changing the chair height also shifts the elbow height.

1. Chair first. Sit down and adjust the seat height so that your thighs and lower legs form a right angle and your feet rest flat on the floor. The desk does not matter yet.
2. Set the desk to elbow height. Let your arms hang loosely and bend your elbows to 90 degrees. Set the desk surface to exactly this height. With an electric desk, raise it slowly until your forearms rest on the surface without lifting your shoulders.
3. Align the monitor. The top line of the screen should be at or just below eye level, at a distance of about one arm's length, or 50 to 70 cm. With a laptop, you need a stand plus an external keyboard; otherwise, proper hand and head posture are mutually exclusive.
4. Check your feet. If your feet are dangling because the chair had to be raised to suit the desk, place a footrest underneath. A sturdy binder or a thick box will work just as well to start with.

For the standing position, simply repeat steps two and three while standing. Standing height is typically 32 to 38 cm above sitting height, so at a height of 180 cm, that means 73 versus 108 cm. If your desk has memory presets, save both values now; otherwise, you will have to find them again every time from tomorrow onward.

How high should the chair and monitor be?

The chair’s seat height is around one quarter of your height, while the top edge of the monitor is at about 65 percent, measured from the floor when seated. At 175 cm, that means a seat height of around 44 cm and 115 cm to the top edge of the screen.

The monitor is the part almost everyone has set too low, especially when working from home with a laptop on the kitchen table. Too low means your head is tilted forwards and downwards—and the head weighs a good five kilograms. Every degree of tilt multiplies this load on the neck muscles. That is why a twenty-franc laptop stand is often a more effective purchase than yet another neck pillow.

The chair determines whether the set desk height actually works. A sagging seat or a backrest without lower-back support will undermine any correctly set desk height, because you slide forwards as the day goes on. The guide ergonomic office chair for working from home explains what matters here, and the ProActive office chair is our answer to it.

What should you do if the desk does not go low enough?

Then raise the chair and place a footrest underneath. This is not a makeshift solution, but the standard ergonomic answer to a problem found at almost every workplace: Fixed office desks in Europe are usually 72 to 75 cm high, which suits people from around 180 to 185 cm tall. Anyone shorter sits at a desk that is too high without noticing.

The order matters. First raise the chair until your forearms are horizontal again, then support your feet so that your thighs are not pressing against the front edge of the seat. The wrong approach would be the opposite: leaving the chair low and raising your shoulders towards the desk. That is exactly what causes a tense neck in the afternoon.

A word about our own desk, because the question comes up regularly. The electrically height-adjustable TWHEELS office desk moves from 75 to 120 cm. We deliberately state these measured values rather than the supplier’s catalogue figures, which were more generous. In concrete terms: At its highest setting, the desk accommodates standing work for people up to around 200 cm tall. At its lowest, it is 75 cm high—the level of a standard office desk. If you are shorter than about 185 cm, you will therefore work seated with a slightly higher chair and a footrest. When standing, which is what the desk is really designed for, it fits across the entire range.

The five most common setup mistakes

• Measuring at the desk instead of on your body. The desk height should be based on your elbows, not on the number in the specifications or on the height of your old desk.
• Standing height is too low. While standing, two or three centimetres too low may still feel comfortable, but your wrists bend downward. It is better to go one centimetre too high than too low.
• The monitor is not raised with it. If you raise the desk without raising the screen, you look down while standing and have merely shifted the strain on your neck.
• Only one height is used. A sit-stand desk that always stays at the same height is an expensive fixed desk. We explain whether buying one is worthwhile at all in the article Height-adjustable desk: worthwhile or an expensive gadget.
• Set it once and you're done. Different shoes, a new chair, a second monitor: Each of these changes shifts the correct height. Readjust briefly after a week at the latest.

Why memory presets determine daily use

Stored heights are the difference between a desk you adjust every day and one that stays at the wrong height. As soon as switching takes longer than three seconds or you have to search for the right height every time, you stop doing it in everyday life. This is not a comfort issue; it is the reason many sit-stand desks end up unused.

One customer, Christian Bucher, writes in his review (5 out of 5 stars): “I thought four memory presets were unnecessary, but I now use all four. 140 is also generous: two screens and still room for a notebook.” That is usually how it works: Two presets for your own sitting and standing heights, one for a second person at the same desk, and one for the position with a treadmill underneath.

The downside is also worth mentioning. One customer says that he stands all morning and that it becomes “tiring for the feet from around eleven”. This matches what ergonomists say: Standing continuously is just as one-sided as sitting continuously. The stored sitting height is just as important as the stored standing height.

Anyone who wants to take it a step further can combine standing height with a treadmill underneath. The Walking Desk setup guide explains how the two work together and which height applies. Important: A treadmill under the desk raises you by its deck height, usually four to six centimetres. You need to add this height to your standing position; otherwise, the angle will no longer be right.

Frequently asked questions

How high should a desk be for someone who is 180 cm tall?

Around 73 cm when sitting and around 108 cm when standing. This results from the factors 0.405 and 0.60 of your height. Then check against your own body: forearms horizontal, elbows at a right angle, shoulders relaxed.

What is the standard height of a desk?

Fixed office desks in Europe are usually 72 to 75 cm high. Mathematically, this suits a height of around 178 to 185 cm. For everyone else, a fixed desk is either too high or too low, which can only be compensated for with the chair height and a footrest.

How do I set the standing height correctly?

About 60 percent of your height, or around 105 cm for someone who is 175 cm tall. Stand upright, let your shoulders drop, and rest your forearms on the desktop. If you can type without raising your shoulders or bending your wrists, the height is correct.

How high should the monitor be?

The top line of the screen should be at or just below eye level, at a distance of about an arm’s length, meaning 50 to 70 cm. With a laptop, you can achieve this only with a stand and an external keyboard.

My desk cannot be adjusted low enough. What should I do?

Raise the chair until your forearms are horizontal and place a footrest underneath. This corrects your sitting posture without rebuilding the desk setup. Raising your shoulders is the wrong solution and leads to neck tension.

How often should I switch between sitting and standing?

A proven starting point is around 50 minutes sitting and 10 to 15 minutes standing. More important than the exact split is that you switch at all. Standing for eight hours puts a similarly one-sided strain on the legs and lower back as sitting continuously.

Our conclusion

The right desk height is not a feeling but a number backed by a ten-second test. Use 0.405 and 0.60 of your height, adjust the chair first, then the desk, then the monitor, and save both heights as presets. Once you do this properly, you’ll avoid daily readjustments and notice the difference in your neck after the first week.

If you truly want to switch between sitting and standing every day, you need a desk that moves to its saved height in seconds: the electrically height-adjustable office desk from TWHEELS has four memory presets, adjusts from 75 to 120 cm, and supports up to 120 kg. If you want to set up your entire workspace at once, you’ll find a chair, desk, and accessories in the TWHEELS office equipment collection.