What size is a standard desk?

A standard desk is 60 x 30 in (152 x 76 cm) on top and 29 to 30 in (74 to 76 cm) high. Width and height have some give. Depth has less, because it does two jobs at once: it sets how far the screen can sit from your eyes, and, with the desk against a wall, how far your feet can reach under it. The office standards agree on about 30 in. Most home desks in a typical catalogue are 19 to 24 in (47 to 61 cm) deep, and that gap is the subject of this page.

Depth, width and height are measured to three different faces#

Depth is the top's front edge to its back edge. A monitor stand's base takes 8 to 11 in (20 to 28 cm) of it at the back, and a hutch or back rail takes more without changing the label.

Width is end to end along the front edge. What your legs need is a different number, the legroom width: the clear distance between legs, panels or a drawer pedestal, measured under the top. A 120 cm desk with a 36 cm drawer unit underneath has under 84 cm (33 in) of legroom, short of the 850 mm EN 527-1 asks for under a fixed desk.

Height is floor to the top of the work surface. The number under it decides comfort: the knee clearance, floor to the lowest thing under the top at the front edge, usually the apron rail or a drawer box. The glossary defines each term, and desk height and seated ergonomics works out the height a particular body needs.

Fifteen IKEA desks, and the 800 mm line that divides them#

IKEA's catalogue splits into two families. The table lists 15 desks from the New Zealand range with the sizes printed on each product page.

Every fixed desk sits between 73 and 76 cm (28.7 and 29.9 in), the band the furniture dimensions hub gives for any table serving a seated body. The depths are another story: twelve desks from 47 to 75 cm (18.5 to 29.5 in), then a jump to exactly 80 cm (31.5 in) for the three office desks.

That 80 cm is not a style choice. EN 527-1, the European dimension standard for office desks, sets a minimum desk top depth of 800 mm for all four of its desk types, fixed and adjustable alike, and a minimum legroom depth of 800 mm for seated use, as the TÜV Rheinland test report cited below reproduces. US makers land near the same place: Uplift sells tops 24 or 30 in deep, and Steelcase builds the Migration SE at 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 35 or 36 in (58 to 91 cm).

Why 30 in: the screen distance and the legroom#

Two separate constraints arrive at about 30 in (76 cm), and either one alone rules out the shallow end of the IKEA table.

The screen. OSHA puts the monitor at least 20 in (51 cm) from the eye and the preferred range at 20 to 40 in (51 to 102 cm). On the arithmetic in gaming setup dimensions, a desk delivers roughly its own depth as eye to screen distance, so 24 in (61 cm) only just clears OSHA's floor. BIFMA G1, as the University of Washington guideline quotes it, recommends at least 30 in for a computer desk and 36 in (91 cm) for a 27 to 36 in monitor. Monitor distance, height and position gives the distance by screen size.

The legs. ANSI/HFES 100-2007, the US standard for computer workstations, asks for clear space under the top of at least 17.3 in (44 cm) at knee level and 23.6 in (60 cm) at floor level, and recommends 22 in (56 cm) and 26 in (66 cm). Against a wall, the floor-level space can be no deeper than the desk itself:

A 3/4 in (19 mm) skirting board or a back rail at foot height comes off every figure in the second column.

Knee space by standard: 17.3 in deep, 27 in high, 30 in wide#

The space under the top is specified more tightly than the top itself, and three standards give it in three different ways.

Only the ADA column is code, and its own advisory to 226.1 says it does not apply to work surfaces used only by employees. It is still the best-defined knee space there is, and accessible clearances for homes applies it to a house.

Ordinary desks fail it on height. A 29.5 in (75 cm) top, 1 in (25 mm) thick, over a 3 in (76 mm) apron leaves 25.5 in (65 cm) clear, 1.5 in short of ADA's 27 in. The same apron decides whether chair arms go under, which office chair dimensions tabulates, and dining table dimensions meets it under a table.

Width: 46 in for one screen, 60 in for two#

ANSI/HFES 100 recommends 60 in (152 cm) of usable desk width for computer work and sets 46 in (117 cm) as the minimum for a desk used mainly at a computer. EN 527-1 says nothing about the top's width but fixes the legroom: 850 mm (33.5 in) clear on a fixed-height desk, 1,000 mm (39.4 in) on a selectable one, and 1,200 mm (47.2 in) on a fully adjustable one, so a fixed European desk is 850 mm plus the thickness of its two legs or panels at the very least.

The screen fills the rest. A 16:9 panel's width is 0.87 of its diagonal, which gives the glass widths below; bezels add a little, and the interior unit converter handles other sizes.

Makers cut close to this. Uplift sells 42, 48, 60, 72 and 80 in (107 to 203 cm), Steelcase builds 46 to 76 in (117 to 193 cm), and IKEA's office desks are 160 cm (63 in). Under 46 in (117 cm), a desk is a laptop desk whatever the listing calls it.

Height: 29 to 30 in fixed, 22.6 to 48.7 in sit-stand#

A fixed desk is built at 29 to 30 in (74 to 76 cm). ANSI/HFES 100 sets 28.5 in (72 cm) as the minimum for a fixed-height desk, the ADA allows 28 to 34 in (710 to 865 mm) for an accessible work surface, and for children's use the ADA drops to 26 to 30 in (660 to 760 mm) with 24 in (610 mm) of knee clearance.

The catch is that a fixed height suits a tall adult. The seated surface a body wants is about 0.40 of its stature, so 29.5 in fits someone near 6 ft 2 in (188 cm). The desk and chair height calculator gives the figure for your own height.

A height-adjustable desk solves that only if it goes low enough. The University of Washington guideline quotes BIFMA G1-2013 as recommending 22 to 50 in (56 to 127 cm). Uplift states that its V3 frame's 22.6 to 48.7 in (57 to 124 cm), with a 1 in top, meets the ANSI/BIFMA G1-2013 height standard, and Steelcase's extended Migration SE has the same range. The basic Steelcase version runs 28.3 to 46.9 in (72 to 119 cm) and IKEA's electric TROTTEN 71 to 118 cm (28.0 to 46.5 in): neither goes below a fixed desk, so neither seats a small adult correctly. Read the bottom of the range before the top.

Laptops, corners, children and wheelchair users#

Laptop-only desks. A laptop on a 24 in (61 cm) top has no viewing problem, but the legroom rule still holds against a wall. A shallower desk works where there is open floor behind it.

L-shaped and corner desks. Each run is measured on its own. Steelcase's corner tops come only 23 to 30 in (58 to 76 cm) deep, and the inside corner still needs 30 in (76 cm) of knee width.

Children. A child's desk scales with stature; kids desk and chair heights by age gives the pairs, and teen room dimensions fits a full-size desk into a bedroom alongside a bed.

Wheelchair users. The ADA figures in the knee space table are the ones to build to: 27 in (685 mm) clear, 30 in (760 mm) wide, and a top between 28 and 34 in (710 to 865 mm). A desk with an apron or drawer under the front edge rarely qualifies.

The room around it. Depth is only the first number on the floor. A chair needs 36 to 42 in (91 to 107 cm) behind the desk edge, and a route past it another 36 in, which home office layout and clearances adds up for a whole room, with the wider rules in walkway and circulation widths. The home office section collects the rest.

Seven measurements before you buy a desk#

Each figure can be checked with a tape in a few minutes; the standards behind them are in standards, codes and sources.