The Best Desks For Tall People and How To Find Them

A well-fitting desk is pretty much essential if you want to work comfortably for long periods of time. This is not super simple if you are taller than most. Most desks might be too short to work comfortably. 

Ergonomics are super important as most of us spend so much working at a desk these days. Might as well be comfortable during that time. It helps avoid long-term posture issues and just ensures a safer working environment. 

In today’s article, we’re going to talk about how to choose a desk if you are a tall person, along with our recommendations. Learning how to choose a desk is critical, as you will be able to shop for desks in person or on the used market with much more confidence. 

Key Takeaways

• Normal desks are not optimized for tall people. Most are too short and result in slouched working positions. 
• The first step in finding a great fitting desk is to use the calculator in this article to find the ideal desk height for your height specifically. 
• Select a desk with a tabletop height that matches the desk height of the calculator. 
• If you want to perfectly dial in your desk height, highly consider height-adjustable desks. 

Problems With Normal Desks

Most desks out there are produced with very random heights. In our article on the average desk dimensions, we show that most desks range anywhere from 28 inches tall to 30.5 inches tall. 

That is a 2.5-inch range. Humans have a much larger height range than that. This means that most people will get a desk that doesn’t perfectly fit them. There are ways to deal with this, but we saved that for the last section. 

For tall people, most desks might be shorter than necessary. When desks are shorter, you run into a couple of problems. 

First, your chair’s armrests can constantly collide with your desk, which is annoying and can actually damage your chair after constant collisions. 

Second, your legs won’t have nearly enough room. Smaller desks mean your legs have a smaller space which can be restrictive. Nobody wants to work like that. 

Lastly, and most severely, this can lead to poor posture in the long term. A low tabletop surface will lead to slouching over to reach your keyboard or laptop. This is far from ideal and affects your everyday life. You will be far less productive being this uncomfortable and it just works against you. 

How To Choose Desks For Tall People

Hopefully, you’re convinced that you should find the right size desk if you are tall. Now here is exactly what you need to do to find the right desk height for you. 

Find The Perfect Desk Height

Fortunately for us, someone has put together a fantastic desk height calculator that is based on your own height! 

Simply input your height, and select the Sitting position. The output will be a chair height, desk height, and monitor height range. How useful is that?!

Now we just need to double-check the calculator’s work, because they give us a range and everybody’s body is a little bit different. 

To check the desk height yourself, do the following:

• Sit in your desk chair.
• Adjust the chair height so both of your feet are flat on the floor. 
• With your shoulders relaxed, measure the distance between the floor and your elbow. 

This is just under where you want your desk height to be. See the image on the calculator’s output page, and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. 

You want your tabletop to be at your natural elbow level. 

Now you know exactly what height your desk needs to be! Search for that desk height online or take a measuring tape with you in-store to ensure you get a desk that fits. 

Or stick around because we have our own recommendations. 

Highly Consider Adjustable Height Desks

Now that you know the ideal desk height for you, you probably think finding a normal desk will be simple now. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Most desks typically just go after the average desk height that we talked about earlier.  

The only type of desk that will save us and undoubtedly work for all tall people is adjustable height desks or standing desks. If you know anyone who has trouble finding a desk with the perfect height, please recommend they use an adjustable-height desk. 

We don’t necessarily need to use them as standing desks. The key is that they are adjustable in height. That means you can perfectly dial in the height you need to comfortably sit at your perfect ergonomic height. 

The fine-tuning ability and ease are unmatched by any other type of desk. If you are tall and really want to dial in that height for maximum comfort, you won’t look back after getting an adjustable-height desk. 

Of course, if you have no intention of using it as a standing desk, you might be spending more money than necessary. But I would consider using standing desks in general. Here is our dedicated article on if standing desks are worth it or not. 

The Best Desks For Tall People

For our best desk recommendations, we stuck to height-adjustable desks. This is pretty much the only way we can make meaningful recommendations that will work for pretty much all tall people. 

If you don’t intend to use the standing height very often, then I recommend leaning toward the mechanical crank adjustable height desks. The electronically adjustable desks are more expensive but are more convenient to adjust often. 

Budget Pick

This budget pick is for tall folks who don’t plan on adjusting their desk height very often. They simply want to place the desk at a fine-tuned ergonomic height. 

The particle wood tabletop gets the job done and keeps the cost down. It comes in a 43 x 24-inch size or a roomy 55 x 24-inch size. 

The hand crank results in a weight capacity of 88 lbs, which is lower than other desks, but perfectly enough for most people. 

Quality Pick

If you want a higher quality option, this desk has a solid wood table top and electronically height-adjustable legs. 

The minimum height is 28.7″ inches, which will not be so great for shorter folks but is a great starting point for tall people. 

It has three memory settings so you can share the desk with another person in your household. The first two buttons will have your seated and standing positions ready with the simple press of a button. 

The solid tabletop is very worth it as you can confidently use monitor mounts without worrying about damaging your table. 

How To Make Any Desk Work For Your Height

If on the off chance you are trying to save money and not buy an entirely new desk, here is how to make any desk work for your height. The core principle is fairly simple. 

Desk Too Short?

If your desk is too short, lift it up! We have a dedicated article on how to raise your desk. There are a ton of different types of desk risers on the market that simply get placed under your desk legs. 

Before you go with desk risers, ensure your desk does not already have adjustable height feet.

Desk Too Tall?

If your desk is too tall, there is also a simple solution here and one that I personally use every day! 

First, increase your chair height until your elbows are level with your table. Now your chair might be too high so that your feet don’t sit flat on the floor. To combat this, simply use a footrest. This is the one that I use.

They are very affordable and pay dividends in comfort.