Desk and workbench height calculator
Measure your elbow height, or start from your height. This works out the seated and standing desk height, the chair seat, the top of the monitor, and a workbench for hand tools, for machines and assembly, and for detail work.
= 44.5"
Barefoot. 5' 10" works. Fills in anything you have not measured
Seated measurements and bench offsetsSeated figures estimated · 1" shoes · bench −10" / −4" / +2"
Sit on a firm seat with your thighs level and feet flat. Leave any of these blank to estimate it from your height.
Upper arm hanging, forearm level
Underside of the thigh, in shoes
Added to estimates only
Grandjean's working heights: heavy work 6–16" below the elbow, light work 4–6" below, precision work 2–4" above.
Set the work surfaces at
Seated desk
28 1/4"
Keyboard, forearms level
Standing desk
44 1/2"
Elbow height
Chair seat
18 1/2"
Screen top, seated
50"
Screen top, standing
66 1/2"
Bench, hand tools
34 1/2"
Bench, machines and assembly
40 1/2"
Bench, detail work
46 1/2"
The body figures it started from
- Standing elbowYour measurement
- 44 1/2"
- Back of knee (chair seat)Estimated: 0.25 × your height, plus shoes
- 18 1/2"
- Seat to elbowEstimated: 0.14 × your height, above the seat
- 9 3/4"
- Seat to eyeEstimated: 0.45 × your height, above the seat
- 31 1/2"
- Standing eyeEstimated: 0.935 × your height, plus shoes
- 66 1/2"
The ratios are population averages: elbow height from Drillis and Contini's body segment proportions, the seated and eye figures rounded from the adult tables in Pheasant and Haslegrave's Bodyspace. Two people of the same height can differ by two inches at the elbow, so every figure you measure replaces its estimate. The bench offsets are Grandjean's, from Fitting the Task to the Man; the screen top at eye level is OSHA's computer workstation guidance.
When the desk is a fixed height
Most desks are 29" to 30" and do not adjust. If yours is higher than 28 1/4", raise the chair until your elbows are level with it and put a footrest under your feet — the chair is the part that adjusts. Lower than that, and the chair comes down to it.
Worked example: a 70" person
A person 70" tall with a measured standing elbow height of 44 1/2" wants a standing desk at 44 1/2", a bench for hand tools at 34 1/2" and one for machines and assembly at 40 1/2".
Sitting, the chair seat goes at 18 1/2", the desk at 28 1/4" with the forearms level, and the top of the screen at 50" — those three estimated from height, until they are measured.
- Seated desk
- 28 1/4"
- Chair seat
- 18 1/2"
- Standing desk
- 44 1/2"
- Hand-tool bench
- 34 1/2"
- Assembly bench
- 40 1/2"
These are the figures the calculator above opens on. Change any field and it works the same problem for your numbers.
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About desk and workbench heights
- What height should a desk be?
- At your elbow with your forearms level, sitting on a chair set to the back of your knee. For an average 5' 10" person that estimates to a chair seat at 18 1/2" and a desk at 28 1/4" — lower than the 29" to 30" most desks are made at, which is why so many people type with raised shoulders. Measure your own seated elbow height; it can differ from the average by more than the gap between a good desk and a bad one.
- How high should a standing desk be?
- At standing elbow height, in the shoes you will wear at it. Drillis and Contini's body proportions put the elbow at 0.63 of standing height, so a 5' 10" person in shoes is estimated at 45" — but measure it: stand straight, let your upper arm hang, bend the forearm level, and measure from the floor to the underside of the elbow. The screen top goes at about eye level, 66 1/2" on the same estimate.
- How high should a workbench be?
- It depends on the work, and Grandjean's ergonomics put numbers on it: heavy work 15 to 40 cm below the elbow, light work 10 to 15 cm below, precision work 5 to 10 cm above. Planing is heavy work — you push down into it — so a hand-tool bench sits low: 35" for an average 5' 10" person, 10" under the elbow. Assembly and machine work is light, 41". A bench for both is usually built at the hand-tool height, with a raised platform for detail work.
- How high should a chair seat be?
- Level with the back of your knee when you sit with your feet flat — the popliteal height, about 0.25 of standing height plus your shoes. That is 18 1/2" for a 5' 10" person. Higher and the seat edge presses into the thighs; lower and the knees rise above the hips. If the desk is too high for your seat, raise the chair to the desk and put a footrest under your feet.
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