MindSeat tools

Desk height calculator: your desk, chair and screen heights

Type your height. The calculator gives your chair height, your desk height sitting and standing, and where the top of your screen goes. If you work at a table you can't change, like a villa dining table, it tells you how to fit yourself to it.

Your heights

Example: for 175 cm (5 ft 9 in), barefoot

Chair seat: 42 cm16.5 inFloor to the top of the seat. Knees level with your hips, feet flat.
Desk, sitting: 67 cm26.5 inYour elbow height: keys level with your elbows or a little lower.
Desk, standing: 109 cm43 inElbow height again, standing.
Top of the screen, sitting: 122 cm48 inAt eye level or up to 5 cm lower: 51 to 56 cm above the desk.
Top of the screen, standing: 164 cm64.5 in49 to 54 cm above the standing desk.
Screen distance: About an arm's length24-inch 50 to 70 cm, 27-inch 60 to 75 cm, 32-inch 70 to 90 cm. The standards allow 50 to 100 cm.

On a MindSeat desk (73 to 118 cm)

Sitting, set it to its lowest, 73 cm: that's 6 cm above your elbows, so raise your chair by 6 cm and rest your feet on a 6 cm footrest. Standing, set it to 109 cm.

On a laptop alone

Its screen top sits about 21 cm above the desk, 34 cm below your eyes, so you look down at it all day. Lift it about 32 cm on a stand, and type on a separate keyboard and mouse: then the screen and your hands can both be at the right height.

Your setup from the side, to scale.

Desk height chart

Every height from 150 to 200 cm, barefoot. In shoes, add about 2.5 cm to every number; in sandals, about 1.5 cm.

Your height	Chair seat	Desk, sitting	Desk, standing	Screen top, sitting	Screen top, standing
150 cm4 ft 11 in	36 cm14.5 in	57 cm22.5 in	94 cm37 in	105 cm41.5 in	140 cm55.5 in
155 cm5 ft 1 in	38 cm15 in	59 cm23.5 in	97 cm38 in	108 cm42.5 in	145 cm57 in
160 cm5 ft 3 in	39 cm15 in	61 cm24 in	100 cm39.5 in	112 cm44 in	150 cm59 in
165 cm5 ft 5 in	40 cm15.5 in	63 cm25 in	103 cm40.5 in	115 cm45.5 in	154 cm61 in
170 cm5 ft 7 in	41 cm16 in	65 cm25.5 in	106 cm42 in	119 cm47 in	159 cm62.5 in
175 cm5 ft 9 in	42 cm16.5 in	67 cm26.5 in	109 cm43 in	122 cm48 in	164 cm64.5 in
180 cm5 ft 11 in	44 cm17 in	69 cm27 in	113 cm44.5 in	126 cm49.5 in	169 cm66.5 in
185 cm6 ft 1 in	45 cm17.5 in	71 cm28 in	116 cm45.5 in	129 cm51 in	173 cm68 in
190 cm6 ft 3 in	46 cm18 in	73 cm28.5 in	119 cm47 in	133 cm52.5 in	178 cm70 in
195 cm6 ft 5 in	47 cm18.5 in	75 cm29.5 in	122 cm48 in	136 cm53.5 in	183 cm72 in
200 cm6 ft 7 in	48 cm19 in	76 cm30 in	125 cm49 in	140 cm55 in	187 cm73.5 in

Working at a villa dining table

Most villas and apartments in Bali have a dining table about 75 cm high and chairs that don't adjust. That table is higher than the elbows of most people sitting at it, so the keyboard ends up too high and the shoulders creep up. The fix is to bring yourself up to the table: raise the seat until your elbows are level with the table top, then put a footrest under your feet so they stay flat.

At 160 cm, a 75 cm table is 14 cm above your elbows: raise the seat to 53 cm and add a 14 cm footrest.
At 170 cm, a 75 cm table is 10 cm above your elbows: raise the seat to 51 cm and add a 10 cm footrest.
At 180 cm, a 75 cm table is 6 cm above your elbows: raise the seat to 50 cm and add a 6 cm footrest.

Check it by feel

The numbers get you close. These tell you when it's right.

Elbows at about 90°, close to your sides; anywhere from 90° to 120° is fine.
Shoulders relaxed, not lifted to reach the keys.
Wrists straight, not bent up or down.
Thighs about level, feet flat on the floor or a footrest.
The top of the screen at eye level or a little below, so you look slightly down at the middle of it.
The screen about an arm's length away, tilted back 10° to 20°.

Questions

What is the right desk height for my height?

Your seated elbow height: about 38.2 percent of your height, barefoot. That's the seat at about 24.2 percent of your height plus your elbows about 14 percent above it. For someone 175 cm tall it's 67 cm. The chart on this page has every height from 150 to 200 cm.

How high should a standing desk be?

At your standing elbow height, about 62.5 percent of your height: 109 cm for someone 175 cm tall, barefoot. Keep the same 90° at the elbow as when you sit.

How high should my chair be?

So your knees are level with your hips and your feet are flat: about 24.2 percent of your height, plus 2.5 cm in shoes. 42 cm for someone 175 cm tall, barefoot. If the desk is too high for that seat, raise the seat to match the desk and put a footrest under your feet.

How high should my monitor be?

With the top of the screen at eye level or a little below, so you look slightly down at the middle of it. For someone 175 cm tall that's about 122 cm from the floor sitting, 56 cm above a desk at the right height. Put it about an arm's length away.

Is a standard 75 cm table too high?

For most people, yes. A 75 cm surface matches the seated elbow height of someone about 196 cm tall barefoot, or 190 cm in shoes. The ANSI/HFES 100 standard's range for seated work surfaces, 56 to 72 cm, stops below it. Shorter than that, raise your seat and use a footrest; the calculator gives both numbers.

How long should I stand at a standing desk?

There's no single right number. Ontario's guideline for sit-stand workstations suggests changing position about every 30 minutes, building up to standing in 5 to 15 minute stretches, and standing no more than about 4 hours in a day. The benefit comes from changing position, not from standing itself.

Can a laptop be set up properly on its own?

Not for a full day. The screen and keyboard are joined, so a height that's right for your eyes is wrong for your hands. Put the laptop on a stand with the top of its screen near eye level, and type on a separate keyboard and mouse.

Where do I set the MindSeat desk?

It goes from 73 to 118 cm. Standing, set it to your standing elbow height, which the calculator gives. Sitting, most people are shorter than the 73 cm the desk starts at: set it to its lowest, raise your chair by the difference and use a footrest of the same height.

How it's calculated

Seat height is your popliteal height (the floor to the back of your knee, seated), about 24.2% of your height, plus footwear: 2.5 cm for shoes and 1.5 cm for sandals, our estimate.
Desk height, sitting, is your seated elbow height: the seat plus about 14% of your height. Standing, it's about 62.5% of your height plus footwear.
Eye height, sitting, is the seat plus about 45.7% of your height; standing, about 93.6%. The top of the screen goes there or up to 5 cm lower.
The ratios are medians from measured populations. Your own proportions can differ by a few centimetres, so treat the numbers as the place to start, and adjust until the checks above feel right.

Sources

The part a calculator can't do

It can give you the numbers. It can't lower a dining table, or make a dining chair hold you for eight hours. Our desk goes from 73 to 118 cm, so the standing number is one button away, and the chair adjusts to the seat height above. A laptop stand at $15 a month lifts the screen to your eyes.

A height-adjustable desk at $50 a month, an ergonomic chair at $70, a 32-inch 4K screen at $160, or all of it as The Best at $345. Delivered and set up the same day, and moved free once a month when you change villas.