If you’re looking for a new office chair, you might wonder: How tall should my chair be for my desk?
That’s a great question! Your chair height should be adjusted so that your thighs are parallel to the floor when your feet are flat and your arms are relaxed at your sides.

How Tall Should My Chair Be For My Desk?

It is common to develop bad posture on a chair with a computer or laptop placed on a work desk in front of you. We often lean or slouch on the work chair, putting pressure on different body parts, which can cause discomfort and sometimes trigger pain. So, choosing a chair and desk with ideal height is the best solution to avoid health issues.

How Tall Should My Chair Be For My Desk

Chair Height

Considering the proper ergonomics, the optimum height for your office chair must keep your knees at 90 degrees angle. The seat height should reach the back of your knees when your feet rest on the floor. On average, a person of 5 feet in height needs a chair of 14 to 16 inches of height. In contrast, a 6 ft. and 4 inches heightened person can sit comfortably at 19.5 inches chair height.

The ideal office chairs offer height-adjusting features where you do not need to bend or lean on a laptop screen to focus on work. You must also tilt your monitor’s angle between 10 to 20 degrees, along with the chair and desk height adjustments.

Below we have tabulated different chair heights suitable for the varying height from person to person:

Person’s Height

Chair Height (From Floor to Seat)

5’ to 5’4’’

14 to 16’’

5’5 to 5’7’’

17’’

5’8’’ to 6’1’’

18’’

6’2’’

19’’

6’3’’ to 6’4’’

20’’

Desk Height

On average, the height of an office desk is 29 inches or 73.5 cm. If your chair height doesn’t comply with desk height, you lean or try to reach up, hurting your back. This average height isn’t suitable for every individual. The desk size will vary accordingly for a comfortable working environment, whether someone is tall or short.

Your desk height must be 28 to 30 inches if you are a person with 6 ft. 4 inches. While for 5 ft. height, 22 to 23 inches desk height is ideal. You can’t usually get height-adjustable desks; if you need to change the height, the only possibility is with chair height. There’s another option for lowering the work surface by using a keyboard tray attached to the desk.

Here are the recommended heights for different sizes of desks:

  • Normal Desk Height is 15 to 22 inches
  • Medium Desk Height is 18 to 28 inches
  • Tall Desk Height is 22 to 32 inches.

Person’s Height

Desk Height

5’ to 5’1’’

23’’

5’2’’ to 5’3’’

24’’

5’4’’ to 5’5’’

25’’

5’6’’ 5’8’’

26’’

5’9’’ to 5’10’’

27’’

5’11’’ to 6’

28’’

6’1’’ to 6’3’’

29’’

6’4’’

30’’

How to Adjust The Height of Office Chair With Desk?

If you want to make adjustments to the height of the chair, desk, and other office equipment, follow these important steps:

  • Start with placing a chair a bit away from the work desk.
  • Sit on a chair normally by positioning your back against the chair's backrest.
  • Measure the gap between the front corner of the chair and the inside of your knees. If the distance is three fingers, you need no adjustments. However, the gap is more than this means you must enhance the chair depth by moving the seat slider forward. In case the gap is less than three fingers, move the slider backward.
  • Then adjust the chair's height to a level where your feet can touch the floor easily. At the same time, the knee level should be lower than the hip level to minimize the pelvis's rotation and pressure in the lumbar discs.
  • After this, adjust the height of the chair's armrest by placing forearms on arm pads with elbows bent at 90 degrees angle. You must keep your shoulders relaxed during all working hours.
  • The armrest width should be adjusted properly to match your body shape. Keep the arm pads in a way where the upper arm is positioned vertically but not extended too far from the body.
  • Also, adjust the tension of the swivel mechanism to suit your body weight. Your chair must be reclined backward to keep your body properly balanced.
  • The position of the backrest, lumbar support, and headrest must suit your body's needs to prevent pain even after long sitting hours.

How High Should My Chair Be While Gaming?

Just like an ergonomic chair for work, you also need more comfortable seating for gaming to ensure better health conditions. Choosing a suitable gaming chair that meets right with your height is best to keep your spine safe from pain. Considering how tall my chair should be for my desk, you can also select the accurate chair height for gaming.

How High Should My Chair Be Gaming

Person’s Height 

Chair Height

Desk Height

5’2’’

16.7’’

25’’

5’5’’

17.5’’

26.2’’

5’7’’

18’’

27’’

5’9’’

18.5’’

27.8’’

6’1’’

19.6’’

29’4’’

What Factors to Consider While Finding How Tall Should My Chair Be For My Desk?

There are simple rules for deciding the chair height compatible with the desk height, such as the chair height should be enough to allow your feet to rest on the floor, keep your hips above your knees, and shouldn’t bend your knees beyond 90 degrees.

Otherwise, the chair's wrong height will negatively affect your shoulders, neck, thighs, and arms. Here are some essential factors to consider when adjusting chair and desk height.

Feet Should Touch The Ground

Generally, your feet must touch the ground when you sit on a chair. However, too low a seat will pressure certain points to make seating difficult, while too high a chair will reduce proper circulation and cause discomfort.

Forearms Should Be Parallel to the Desk

Raise the chair's height in such a way that your elbows are placed at 90 degrees angle at your side. Keep your arms 2 to 3 cm higher but parallel to the desk. It will keep shoulders relaxed and prevent arm fatigue.

The Angle of Seat

To keep your body balanced with the seat angle, you will need a 110-degree angle tilt, 8 to 10 cm of height from hips to knees because sitting with hips above knees reduces the back strain and relaxes the pelvis. When you keep your knees at 90 degrees angle, your spinal and thoracic region feels more pressure making less room to breathe.

Wrapping Up

A properly adjusted office desk and chair can improve your productivity at work and offer multiple health benefits. You feel less tired and pay more attention to tasks energetically.

However, to ensure the right posture, you must know how tall should my chair be for my desk. It is impossible to deny the importance of chair and desk height, and we hope our recommendations and tricks will prove helpful for your better improvements.

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