The dimensions of your chair mean a lot when it comes to being comfortable at your desk. They don’t mean everything, but they can result in a bad setup right off the bat.
Keep in mind that the proper chair dimensions also heavily rely on your desk height. We’ll get into all this as we talk about the dimensions of the average office chair.
Average Office Chair Dimensions
After taking a look at some of the best selling chairs on the largest online marketplace (Amazon), we calculated the following averages as the “standard” dimension of a chair.
- Overall Height: 37.9 – 42.0 inches
- Seat Height: 16.4 – 20.4 inches
- Overall Width: 24.0 inches
- Overall Depth: 24.6 inches
Things You MUST Consider With Chair Dimensions
A few quick notes. As you saw above, these are the four dimensions we will cover in this article with regards to chair size.
- Overall Height
- Seat Height
- Overall Width
- Overall Depth
Let’s dive a little deeper so we know what to look for when sizing a chair.
Overall Height & Seat Height
First, the overall height is the distance of the topmost edge of the chair from the floor. If the chair comes with a headrest, this will be significantly taller than chairs without one.
Most chairs have an adjustable height cylinder between the seat and the wheels. This means the seat height and overall height will have ranges. This range is important, because everyone will have a different seat height that works with their own height.
How To Determine Your Setup
I love recommending this calculator for everyone trying to dial in an ergonomic desk setup. The critical outputs of this calculator are desk height and chair height. For those that have an adjustable height desk, you can simply adjust your table and chair to get these values.
If you’re wondering what typical desk heights are (likely the height of your own), check out our article on the height of standard desks.
If you don’t have an adjustable height desk, the first thing you should do is raise your chair until your upper body looks like this. Hands should be level with the table when elbows are bent around 90 degrees.
After you raise your chair to the appropriate height, take a look at your feet? Are they able to sit flat on the floor with your knees bent at 90 degrees? If the answer is yes, you are good to go!
If your feet are not touching the floor, you will need a footrest. This is the one I use, and it works perfectly.
When your feet hang off the chair edge they put unwanted pressure on the backside of your thighs and restrict blood flow.
If you subtract the seat height from the overall height, you get the back support height. This is something tall folks will need to pay attention to when the time comes to buy a chair. If your back support is too low, you will find that the chair’s back will try and dig under your shoulder blades. Very uncomfortable.
We have a dedicated article on chairs for tall people where we talk all about tall people chair problems and how to solve them when chair shopping.
Overall Width
The overall width of a chair will typically be the distance between the outside of the armrests, as seen in the above infographic.
This usually tells you how much room a chair has, but is not a perfect determining factor. The reason it’s not the best dimension to determine if you will fit comfortably is that the arm rests themselves come in a variety of sizes.
Some have large beefy executive armrests, some have minimal armrest sizes. Some also have pivoting armrests that can move out of the way entirely!
Overall Depth
Overall Depth is the distance between the frontmost edge of the chair to behind the back support. This distance can typically tell you how deep you are able to sit in a chair. Similar to the “overall width” dimension though, it is not a perfect determining factor.
This is because the back support of different chairs have a huge range of thicknesses. Some have a bare minimum mesh back. Others have that huge executive leather cushioning.
This dimension is one of the factors on how much room you should have in front of your desk. So if you are sandwiched between your desk and a wall, check out our article on how much space you should have to accommodate natural movement and your current chair.
Where We Got The Dimensions
The dimensions we pulled were from some of the best selling chairs on Amazon. With Amazon being one of the largest marketplaces in the world, this should give you a good idea on average & standard chair dimensions.
| Chair | Overall Height (in) | Seat Height (in) | Overall Width (in) | Overall Depth (in) | Weight Capacity (lbs) |
| Neo Chair | 34.6 – 38.6 | 17.1 – 21.1 | 20.9 | 22.0 | 250 |
| BestOffice Chair | 34.5 – 38.0 | 17.0 – 20.5 | 22.0 | 22.0 | 250 |
| Leather Neo Chair | 44.1 – 48.1 | 15.1 – 19.1 | 26.0 | 26.0 | 300 |
| Amazon Basics Puresoft | 38.3 – 42.0 | 19.8 – 23.5 | 23.8 | 26.0 | 275 |
| Amazon Basics Padded Chair | 34.8 – 38.6 | 16.1 – 19.9 | 24.0 | 24.2 | 275 |
| Neo Adjustable Arm Chair | 38.0 – 42.3 | 15.5 – 19.8 | 25.5 | 25.5 | 260 |
| Amazon Basics Mesh | 35.6 – 40.3 | Not Available | 24.0 | 25.2 | 275 |
| Neo Diamond Stitched Chair | 43.0 – 48.0 | 14.0 – 19.0 | 26.0 | 26.0 | 300 |
| Averages | 37.9 – 42.0 | 16.4 – 20.4 | 24.0 | 24.6 | 273 |
Just A Starting Point
Because these dimensions are not the absolute perfect way to size a chair, they are a great place to start. I highly recommend finding a local place where you can test drive office chairs. You can then infer dimensions from those products to others online.
Another way to dial in the perfect fit is to find what dimensions you would want to change on your current chair. Measure those as a starting point!
One last important note I want to leave you with: just because someone else loves the fit of a chair, doesn’t necessarily mean that you will love it too. Everyone is different, so your results will vary. Take other people’s opinions lightly and just try chairs out yourself as you are able to. Goodluck!
Before you go, if you want to get serious about office chair ergonomics, you should check out some serious office chairs like Herman Miller and Steelcase.
Their prices will make you run away, but they do serious engineering and ergonomic solutions for people who live in their office chairs. We just compared two of Steelcase’s most budget friendly options in our last article, Steelcase Series 1 vs Series 2! Check this out and see if either is right for you.
Here is a fantastic video on additional considerations for buying an office chair from good old BTODtv!
Also, before you splurge on a new chair, do a quick cost comparison using our guide to how much a chair should cost. If you’re a chair mat user, we talk about the root problem and the best alternatives to that plastic mat here.
