ErGear

Four figures from one measurement

Desk Height Calculator

Enter your height and this works out the seated and standing desk heights to try first, the seat height that goes with them and how high the top of the screen should sit, then checks all 26 height-adjustable models here against those two desk figures.

Your four numbers

Enter your height. The figures below are the usual ergonomic proportions of standing elbow, seated elbow, knee and seated eye height, and they are a starting point for the first hour rather than a prescription.

How the numbers are worked out

A desk is at the right height when your upper arms hang straight down, your elbows sit at about a right angle and your wrists stay flat as you type. That position is a fixed proportion of your body, which is why one measurement is enough to get close: standing elbow height lands near 61 per cent of stature, seated elbow height near 41 per cent, the back of the knee near 25 per cent and seated eye height near 69 per cent.

Those four proportions are what the calculator applies. The seated and standing figures are desk heights, the third is where the chair seat should end up so your feet stay flat, and the fourth is the height for the top edge of the screen, not its centre. If you choose the pull-out tray option, two and a half inches are added to both desk figures, because on those models the keyboard hangs below the desktop and it is the tray, not the top, that has to meet your elbows.

Then it compares your seated figure against the lowest setting of every adjustable model in this catalogue and your standing figure against the highest, and reports only the models that clear both. Where nothing clears both it says so and shows what comes within an inch, because an inch is what a footrest or a thicker mat closes.

The travel of every adjustable model here

Sorted by lowest setting. The lowest any column drops here is 18.9 inches, on the Low-Height Electric Standing Desk for Kids, 35 x 20 in, and the highest anything reaches is 46.5 inches, on the Standing Desk with Drawers, 40 x 24 in - White.

ModelSectionLowestHighestTravelPrice
Low-Height Electric Standing Desk for Kids, 35 x 20 inDesks18.9 in28.3 in9.4 in$109.99
Standing Desk with Drawers, 40 x 24 in - WhiteStorage Desks28.3 in46.5 in18.2 in$129.99
Standing Desk with Drawers, 48 x 24 in - BlackStorage Desks28.3 in46.5 in18.2 in$129.99
Standing Desk with Drawers, 48 x 24 in - WhiteStorage Desks28.3 in46.5 in18.2 in$129.99
Standing Desk with Drawers, 48 x 24 in - Vintage BrownStorage Desks28.3 in46.5 in18.2 in$129.99
Standing Desk with Drawers, 55 x 28 in - BlackStorage Desks28.3 in46.5 in18.2 in$149.99
Standing Desk with Drawers, 55 x 28 in - WhiteStorage Desks28.3 in46.5 in18.2 in$159.99
Electric Desk Frame, Single Motor - BlackFrames28.3 in46.5 in18.2 in$99.98
Electric Desk Frame, Single Motor - WhiteFrames28.3 in46.5 in18.2 in$104.39
Electric Desk Frame, Single Motor - GreyFrames28.3 in46.5 in18.2 in$104.39
Dual-Motor Desk Frame - BlackFrames28.3 in46.5 in18.2 in$169.99
Dual-Motor Desk Frame - WhiteFrames28.3 in46.5 in18.2 in$199.99
Mobile Standing Desk with WheelsMobile28.3 in46.1 in17.8 in$49.99
Electric Standing Desk, 48 x 24 in - BlackDesks28.35 in46.46 in18.1 in$104.99
Electric Standing Desk, 48 x 24 in - Vintage BrownDesks28.35 in46.46 in18.1 in$129.99
Electric Standing Desk, 48 x 24 in - Light Vintage BrownDesks28.35 in46.46 in18.1 in$139.99
Electric Standing Desk, 55 x 28 in - BlackDesks28.35 in46.46 in18.1 in$179.99
Electric Standing Desk, 55 x 28 in - NaturalDesks28.35 in46.46 in18.1 in$179.99
L-Shaped Electric Standing Desk, 63 inDesks28.35 in46.46 in18.1 in$179.99
Electric Standing Desk, 71 x 30 in - BlackDesks28.35 in46.46 in18.1 in$265.99
Standing Desk with Keyboard Tray, 44 x 24 in - BlackStorage Desks28.35 in46.46 in18.1 in$129.99
Standing Desk with Full-Size Keyboard Tray, 48 x 24 inStorage Desks28.35 in46.46 in18.1 in$139.99
Standing Desk with Keyboard Tray, 44 x 24 in - Vintage BrownStorage Desks28.35 in46.46 in18.1 in$149.99
Standing Desk with Keyboard Tray, 55 x 28 in - BlackStorage Desks28.35 in46.46 in18.1 in$149.99
Standing Desk with Keyboard Tray, 55 x 28 in - Vintage BrownStorage Desks28.35 in46.46 in18.1 in$169.99
Mobile Small Standing Desk - Light WalnutMobile28.35 in46.1 in17.8 in$69.99

Heights are the published column travel, measured to the top of the desktop where a top is included and to the top of the frame where it is not.

Questions about desk height

Where do these proportions come from?
They are the ordinary anthropometric ratios used in office ergonomics: standing elbow height is close to 61 per cent of stature, seated elbow height to 41 per cent, popliteal height to 25 per cent and seated eye height to 69 per cent. They describe an average body, so treat the result as the height to try first, not a number to defend.
My desk only goes down to 28.3 inches and that is still too high.
That is the floor on almost every column in this catalogue, and by these proportions it is the seated height of somebody around 175 cm tall when the keyboard sits on the desktop. Below that height the honest fixes are a keyboard tray, which drops the typing surface about two and a half inches, or a footrest, which raises the person instead.
Should the desk be at elbow height or slightly below?
Slightly below is more comfortable for most people, because the forearms then slope very gently downwards and the wrists stay straight. If you set the desk exactly at elbow height and find your shoulders creeping up, take half an inch off rather than adjusting the chair.
How often should the desk actually move?
Far more often than most people expect. The value is in changing posture, not in standing all day, and the usual advice is to alternate roughly every half hour. That is also why the four memory presets matter more than they look on a specification sheet.
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