Home Office Ergonomics Calculator

Enter your height and this tool gives you a starting point for four numbers: desk height (sitting and standing), monitor position, and chair seat height — the setup measurements most remote workers and freelancers never actually calculate, they just eyeball. It's for anyone furnishing a home office who wants a real number to start from instead of a guess.

Your height (cm)

⚠ A starting point, not a prescription. These numbers come from average body-proportion ratios applied to your height — real torso, arm and leg length vary between people of the same height, sometimes by several centimetres. Use this as your first adjustment, then fine-tune by feel: no numbness in your hands, no neck strain looking at the screen, feet flat, thighs roughly level. If pain persists, that's a question for an occupational therapist or ergonomics professional, not a calculator.

How this is calculated

The posture targets — elbow angle 90–110°, monitor top-of-screen at or just below eye level, viewing distance roughly an arm's length, knees at 90–110° with feet flat — come from OSHA's Computer Workstations eTool and the ANSI/HFES 100-2007 human-factors-engineering standard for computer workstations — both real, publicly documented ergonomics guidance, not something this tool invented.

The numbers (which desk height, in cm, gets you to a 90–110° elbow angle for a person of your height) come from applying standard average body-proportion ratios to your entered height — the same general approach used by most desk-height calculators and sizing charts. Ratios are population averages, so the output is shown as a range, and the calculator says so plainly rather than pretending to know your exact arm length.

FAQ

Is this based on a real standard, or did FutureFavs make up the numbers?

The posture rules (elbow/knee angle targets, eye-level monitor placement, arm's-length viewing distance) are real, named, public guidance from OSHA's Computer Workstations eTool and the ANSI/HFES 100-2007 standard — we did not invent those. The specific centimetre numbers are this calculator's own arithmetic: your height run through standard average body-proportion ratios to translate those posture rules into a concrete desk/chair/monitor height. We're not claiming a lab measured you personally — that's exactly why the result is shown as a range with a fine-tune-by-feel note.

My desk doesn't adjust — what do I do with these numbers?

Use the closest you can get with risers, a monitor arm, or a cushion on your chair. A fixed-height desk that's a few centimetres off your ideal is still worth adjusting monitor height and chair height around, since those two are cheaper to fix than the desk itself.

Do I need different numbers for sitting and standing?

Yes — your elbow height changes by roughly 20+ cm between sitting and standing, so a sit-stand desk needs both heights, and if your monitor isn't on its own adjustable arm, its ideal height changes too when you switch. The calculator gives you both.

What if the numbers feel wrong for my body?

Trust your body over the average. These ratios are drawn from population averages; if you have a long torso and short legs (or vice versa) relative to your height, your real numbers will differ from the estimate. Adjust from there — see the disclaimer above.