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Your desk should sit at roughly elbow height when you're seated with your feet flat on the floor and your shoulders relaxed — for most people, that's between 22 and 28 inches, not the 29 to 30 inches that standard desks are built to. If you stand while working, your desk surface should be about 62% of your total height, which typically lands between 38 and 47 inches.
For seated work, multiply your height in inches by 0.36 to get your ideal desk height. For standing work, multiply your height in inches by 0.62. A 5'8" person needs about a 25-inch seated desk and a 42-inch standing desk; a 6'2" person needs roughly 27 inches seated and 46 inches standing. Since almost every fixed-height desk on the market is 29 to 30 inches tall, most adults under 6'3" are working at a desk that's too high for them.
Measure your desk height when your arms are bent at a 90-degree angle while seated, as the surface should align with your elbows to reduce strain on your shoulders and wrists. If choosing an adjustable desk, ensure it has a wide enough range to accommodate both your seated and standing positions comfortably throughout the day.
The 29-inch desk height standard dates back to mid-century office furniture design and was never based on human measurements — it was based on manufacturing convenience. The result is that the overwhelming majority of desk users compensate by shrugging their shoulders, angling their wrists upward, or perching on the edge of an over-raised chair with their feet dangling. All three habits contribute to neck tension, shoulder pain, and wrist strain over time.
The correct measurement is your seated elbow height. Sit in your chair with your feet flat on the floor, knees at roughly 90 degrees, back supported, and upper arms hanging relaxed at your sides. Bend your elbows to 90 degrees and measure from the floor to the bottom of your elbow. That number is your ideal desk surface height — or more precisely, your ideal keyboard height, which matters more than the desk itself.
Here's a quick reference for typical desk heights by user height:
Two adjustments matter. First, if you wear shoes with a heel — even a half-inch work shoe — add that height to your standing measurement. Second, your monitor height is a separate calculation: the top of the screen should sit at or just below eye level, roughly an arm's length away, regardless of desk height. Getting the desk right and the monitor wrong just moves the strain from your wrists to your neck.
People with unusually long or short torsos relative to their legs should trust the elbow measurement over the height formula. The formula is a population average; your actual elbow height is the real answer.
OSHA's computer workstation guidance recommends that the desk or keyboard surface allow the upper arms to hang vertically with elbows bent between 90 and 120 degrees, wrists straight and neutral, and shoulders relaxed. Cornell University's Human Factors and Ergonomics Research Group goes further, arguing that a slightly negative keyboard tilt — the back edge lower than the front — combined with a keyboard positioned at or just below elbow height produces the most neutral wrist posture.
Ergonomists broadly agree on a point that gets lost in the height debate: no single posture is correct for eight hours. Dr. Alan Hedge of Cornell has long advocated a rotation of roughly 20 minutes seated, 8 minutes standing, and 2 minutes of movement per half hour. This is why the "correct desk height" question increasingly has two answers rather than one, and why fixed-height furniture is fundamentally limited.
Physical therapists also emphasize that a too-high desk is more damaging than a too-low one. Working above elbow height forces sustained shoulder elevation, which loads the upper trapezius continuously — a leading contributor to the tension headaches and neck pain common among desk workers.
The cleanest fix is a desk that moves to you instead of the reverse. An electric height adjustable standing desk typically spans a range of about 25 to 50 inches, which covers the correct seated and standing heights for virtually every adult — including the short-stature users that fixed 29-inch desks fail most badly.
Look for three features when shopping. First, programmable memory presets: once you've dialed in your exact seated and standing numbers, you want to hit a button rather than eyeball it every time, because a desk you have to fuss with is a desk you stop adjusting. Second, a dual-motor frame, which raises and lowers more smoothly, handles heavier loads, and lasts longer than single-motor budget models. Third, verify the minimum height in the specs — many desks advertise an impressive maximum but bottom out at 28 inches, which is useless if you're 5'4" and need 23.5 inches.
If a full desk replacement isn't in the budget, a desktop converter placed on your existing surface handles the standing half of the equation, and an under-desk keyboard tray lowers your typing surface to the correct seated height without replacing anything. Both are compromises, but both beat working at 29 inches all day.
The right desk height isn't a universal number — it's your elbow height seated and roughly 62% of your total height standing, and almost certainly not the 29 inches your current desk was built to. Measure yourself once, adjust your setup to match, and the neck and wrist complaints you've written off as unavoidable will likely improve within a few weeks.
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