What is the Standard Office Desk Height? A Complete Sizing Guide

If you are employed as an office worker, then you have to spend at least eight hours in front of the computer every day. It means that every year, you spend many thousand hours sitting behind the desk. In this case, the size of your desk becomes extremely important for maintaining good health.

The vast majority of employees pay much attention to the choice of their office chair to feel comfortable while sitting behind the computer. However, they never even think about buying the appropriate desk. Usually, they choose any desk that seems to look good to them and that can easily be bought. However, if you spend many years working at a table with an improper height, your health will suffer severely from this.

If the desk is too high, then you have to raise your shoulders to work with the keyboard. As a result, after some time, you will experience serious muscle tension in the muscles of the shoulders and upper back. If the table is too low, then you will have to slouch and curve your spine to see the screen. As a result, excessive pressure is exerted on the lumbar region and your breathing capacity decreases.

Identifying the ideal desk height prevents such pains from becoming a reality. This comprehensive guide will not only identify the height of a typical office desk, but also explain how you can measure yourself and determine your ideal desk height, as well as ways of making your current office desk comfortable.

The Standard Height of a Commercial Desk 

If you were to enter any furniture store in Australia and take measurements of office desks displayed within the showroom, you would find that most of them are typically at the same height.

A globally recognized standard height of an office desk should be about 73 cm – 75 cm high (29 inches).

The furniture industry depends on this standard measurement since it is a compromise. Traditionally, the height of this desk was supposed to be comfortable for a man of average height, about 175 cm (5 feet 9 inches). With one standard measurement, big corporations can produce furniture on a large scale and at high speed, knowing that the product would satisfy a large number of people to some extent.

Commercial Desk

Why Doesn't This Standard Measurement Suit Everyone?

Although this standard desk height facilitates production, it is indifferent to biological aspects. People differ in their physique. It is impossible to make one desk suitable for both a 150-cm-tall individual and a 190-cm-tall person.

• For individuals that are below 175 cm in height, the typical desk height of 73 cm will prove uncomfortable. When you raise the seat of your chair to an appropriate position to be able to easily work on the computer, you will find that your feet dangle in mid-air, and your blood circulation is hindered to the extent that your lower legs swell up and become numb at the end of the day.
• For taller people, the typical desk height will also prove inconvenient since they will struggle with the problem of knees resting beneath the desk surface due to the lack of sufficient knee space, while having to keep bending over to view their monitor screen will give rise to stiff necks.

How to Find Your Perfect Desk Height

There is absolutely no reason to stick to the default desk height offered by the manufacturer of your furniture. To find out the optimal desk height, which would suit only you personally, you need to perform several small tests within your own home environment. For this purpose, wear your usual work shoes and sit comfortably in your office chair. After that, follow these simple instructions:

1. The Foot Test:

 You need to sit down on your chair, adjusting it in a way that allows your feet to touch the floor completely, with your knees forming a right angle.

2. The Arm Test:

 Loosen yourself and allow your arms to hang freely alongside your torso. Next, bend them to form a 90-degree angle, bringing your hands forward as if you were ready to type on the keyboard.

3. Measuring Up:

 In order to measure your optimal height, you need to determine the distance between your hands and the floor. Ideally, once you put your hands on the desk where the keyboard is located, your forearms should lie flat on the surface of the desk without any shoulder lifting.

A Quick Desk Height Measurement Table

If you don't have time to take out a ruler and measure yourself, here's a simple calculation table that will help you determine your ideal desk height based on your overall body height:

Making an Adjustment to a Desk That is Either Too High or Too Low

Assuming that one currently owns a standard desk whose height is 73 centimeters and finds out that this desk is too high or too low for their needs, then one does not have to dispose of this desk. One only needs to modify it to address this problem.

In the Event of Having a Desk That Is Too High

This is common among female office workers. Since it is impossible to cut down either the wooden or metal legs of the desk, the solution lies in adjusting one’s posture. For instance, one has to adjust their position on their office chair such that one's elbows align with the desk's surface. 

Moreover, one has to put a footrest under the desk. This makes it possible to stand firmly on the platform and hence have good blood circulation through their legs, which are now not dangling freely anymore.Instead, one could get an under-desk keyboard holder attached to their desk.

What If Your Desk Is too Short?

It's harder to solve since lifting an enormous piece of furniture could become problematic. The easiest solution is buying "desk risers." These are either solid pieces or wooden blocks.

 These go underneath your four-legged desk legs. This raises your whole desk by just a couple of inches or more. Remember to always use sturdy blocks so that the desk doesn't fall down when you apply pressure.

How to Find Posture Comfort on Your Standard Desk?

Since there is not much room for adjustment in the standard solution, many people feel that in order to sit ergonomically, they must spend thousands of dollars on adjustable and costly standing desks. In this situation, you can have either great-looking but not ergonomic desks or ergonomic yet aesthetically unpleasant desks.

There is one very simple solution that will allow you to adjust all necessary parameters of your position and be sure about your ergonomics no matter what height your desk is: purchase an ergonomically engineered high-quality ergonomic chair.

All you need to do to accommodate yourself to any beautiful standard-height desk is simply raise or lower your chair with gas lift to make it fit perfectly and put an ordinary under-desk footrest to complement the set.

Don't Forget About the Depth and Width

The height of the desk plays a crucial role in the ergonomics and physical comfort of its user, but the depth (distance between the front and back edges) and width (distance between left and right edges) play an important part in ensuring that it serves its purpose effectively.

Charlie Extendable Home Office Desk - Black

Depth of Computer Desk:

The minimum depth of a computer desk should be 60 centimeters. Should the computer desk be smaller than that, then the computer screen will be placed very close to your face, which may lead to severe eye strain and frequent headaches. In case you plan to use two screens, or you need to have enough space to place paper documents in front of your keyboard, consider getting a desk with a depth of 75 to 80 centimeters.

Width of Computer Desk:

The size of a writing desk ranges from 100 to 120 centimeters. This width provides enough space for placing one laptop. The standard size of an office desk ranges from 120 centimeters to 150 centimeters. This space allows for installing two computer screens, a mouse pad, a mug of coffee, and a lamp on your worktable.

The Ideal Pairing of a Desk with a Chair

The most ideal desk becomes useless if used with an improper chair. The chair and the desk should complement each other.

Ensure that when buying a chair, it is equipped with a good quality gas lift cylinder so that you can easily control the height of the seat by making small adjustments to ensure that your desk is well suited. In addition to this, check that the armrests of the chair are highly adjustable; this means that if the armrests cannot be adjusted downwards and touch the desk, then you would not be able to position yourself closer to the keyboard.

 Chair 


Desk

Making the Best Choice at Furniture Castle

Purchasing a suitable desk that fits your body measurements perfectly is one of the best decisions you can make to enhance your well-being and productivity. By measuring your ideal sitting height, picking the correct desk depth, and matching it with an incredibly adjustable chair, you will not experience any discomfort from an improperly designed workstation.

Ready to enhance your work environment at home or the office? Look no further than Furniture Castle. Our office desks collection consists of more than 100 quality models, including the ideal choice for everyone who needs a new desk. Are you looking for a spacious and luxurious executive desk, or do you want something modern such as an advanced electric standing desk? We have all your options covered.

Visit Our website now to browse through our wide range of products and find the right desk for yourself, guaranteed for 10 years structurally and delivered throughout Australia.

FAQs

1. Is it better to have a slightly higher or lower desk?

None of the cases is acceptable. A higher desk is much easier to adjust since you only need to use your adjustable office chair along with a foot rest to get the proper posture. Having your desk be too low forces you to hunch over and ruin your spine.

2. Will having monitor stands affect my desk height?

No, because these stands simply elevate your computer screen to match your line of sight, thus saving your neck from pain. Desk height is determined solely by how high you need your keyboard to be.

3. At what height should my standing desk be at when I'm standing?

Everything remains the same even when using your standing desk. Just let your arms relax and bend your elbows to create an angle of 90 degrees. That's where your desk should be situated.

4. Is it okay for me to have a dining table as an office desk?

You can, but you won’t be comfortable while working. Dining tables are generally tall and higher compared to standard office desks (starting from 76 cm and above) and they are built with solid wooden aprons at the bottom. The wooden construction prevents your legs as well as chair’s arms from fitting underneath the table.

5. Should I do anything if all my work will be done with a laptop?

If your work involves a laptop, then the situation becomes worse because both the keyboard and the display are fixed together. Placing a laptop on the desk and working with it means that you will have to bend your neck down to see the monitor clearly. However, with the purchase of a laptop riser and an external keyboard, your problems will be solved.