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Short version
Put the top of the screen at or slightly below eye level, 20 to 40 inches from your eyes, with the middle of the screen 15 to 20 degrees below straight ahead (OSHA). Seated at a desk set to your elbows, that top edge lands roughly 16 to 19 inches above the desk surface for most adults. The calculator below gives your exact figure.
“Eye level” is easy to say and hard to act on, because nobody knows where their eyes are relative to the desk. You can measure that, though. Once your chair is set so your forearms rest level on the desk, the distance from the desk surface to your eyes depends almost entirely on your height, and from there the screen position is simple geometry.
Monitor height calculator
Enter your height, the screen you use and how far it sits from your eyes. The answer is measured from the desk surface up to the top edge of the picture, so you can check it with a tape measure in ten seconds.
Eye height comes from the body-segment ratios of Drillis and Contini (New York University, 1966): seated eye height 0.450 of standing height above a seat set at 0.250, standing eye height 0.936, elbow height 0.185 above the seat or 0.630 standing. It assumes your chair or standing desk is set so your forearms are level with the work surface, which is why the answer is given above the desk. The screen is placed so its center sits 15 degrees below your eye line, the low end of the 15 to 20 degree range in OSHA's workstation guidance, with the top edge never above eye level. Shoes add about an inch to everything measured from the floor. Nothing you type leaves this page.
Correct monitor height by body height
The table uses the same math as the calculator: seated, a 24-inch monitor 26 inches from the eyes, chair adjusted so the forearms are level with the desk. A 27-inch screen goes about 0.7 inch higher, because its taller picture lets the top edge come closer to eye level while the middle stays 15 degrees down.
| Your height | Top of screen above desk | Seated eye height off the floor, in shoes |
|---|---|---|
| 5’0″ (152 cm) | 14.8 in (38 cm) | 43.0 in (109 cm) |
| 5’3.5″ (161 cm) | 15.7 in (40 cm) | 45.4 in (115 cm) |
| 5’6″ (168 cm) | 16.4 in (42 cm) | 47.2 in (120 cm) |
| 5’9″ (175 cm) | 17.2 in (44 cm) | 49.2 in (125 cm) |
| 6’0″ (183 cm) | 18.0 in (46 cm) | 51.4 in (131 cm) |
| 6’4″ (193 cm) | 19.1 in (48 cm) | 54.2 in (138 cm) |
These come from population body proportions, so treat them as a starting point within about an inch. If you have to tip your chin up to read the top line, lower the screen. If your eyes drop to the bottom third of the screen and stay there, raise it.
Eye level when sitting: the average man and woman
The CDC’s most recent measured averages for US adults are 68.9 inches for men and 63.5 inches for women (NHANES, August 2021 to August 2023). Applying the Drillis and Contini seated proportions, the average man’s eyes sit about 48 inches off the floor in a chair set for his legs, or 49 inches in shoes. The average woman’s sit about 44.5 inches up, 45.4 in shoes.
The figure that matters at a desk is height above the desk surface, not the floor, because desks vary and you should adjust the chair to the desk. Seated with level forearms, the average man’s eyes are about 18.3 inches above the work surface and the average woman’s about 16.8. The top of a monitor goes at or just under that line.
How the calculation works
Three steps. First, seated eye height: in the Drillis and Contini tables, seat height is about 0.250 of standing height and eye height above the seat 0.450, so the eyes sit near 0.700 of your height off the floor. Elbow height above the seat is 0.185, which is where the desk surface should meet you. Subtract the two and your eyes are about 0.265 of your height above the desk.
Second, the middle of the screen. OSHA’s monitor guidance places it 15 to 20 degrees below horizontal eye level. At 26 inches away, 15 degrees down is about 7 inches below the eyes.
Third, the top edge sits half the picture height above that middle point, and never above the eyes. On a 24-inch 16:9 monitor the picture is about 11.8 inches tall, so its top lands roughly an inch below eye level. For standing, the ratios change to 0.936 for eye height and 0.630 for elbow height, which puts the top of the screen about 20 inches above a standing desk for the average man.
Laptops: the screen is always too low
Run the calculator with a 14-inch laptop and the top edge should sit around 15 inches above the desk for the average man. Measure where yours is now. On almost every laptop sitting flat on a desk the gap is several inches, and that gap is the reason people end up with their head pushed forward and down for hours. A laptop stand closes it, and once the screen is up you need a separate keyboard and mouse, because typing on a keyboard raised that high puts the wrists and shoulders in a worse position than the one you fixed.
Two monitors and ultrawides
With one main screen and a second for reference, set the main one with the calculator, centered in front of you, and put the second to the side at the same height or slightly lower. If you split your time evenly between two, center the pair so the seam sits in front of your nose and set both to the same height.
Very tall screens are the exception to the rule. A 32-inch 16:9 monitor is nearly 16 inches tall, and for someone around 5 feet its bottom edge reaches the desk before the top gets to eye level. The calculator flags that case. The fix is to push the screen back, use an arm that can sit lower than the factory stand, or let the top sit slightly above your eyes and tilt it back.
Tilt, distance and glare
OSHA recommends a viewing distance of at least 20 inches and a preferred range of 20 to 40 inches, close enough to read everything with your head and torso upright. If you lean in to read, make the text bigger in your operating system rather than pulling the screen closer. The screen should be roughly perpendicular to your line of sight, usually with a tilt of 10 to 20 degrees, and more tilt is not better: a screen tilted far back catches overhead lights. Put the monitor side-on to windows rather than facing them or with a window behind it.
Fixing height when your monitor doesn’t adjust
Many monitor stands only adjust tilt, and laptops do not adjust at all. A stack of books works for a week, but it is not stable and you cannot fine-tune it. Two products solve this properly.
| Option | Best for | What you can adjust | Desk footprint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ergotron LX Monitor Arm | An external monitor | Height, tilt and distance, independently | Clamps to the desk, frees the stand footprint |
| Rain Design mStand Laptop Stand | Working off a laptop screen | Raises the screen toward eye level | Sits on the desk, leaves airflow under the laptop |
Ergotron LX Monitor Arm
Clamps to the desk and sets height, tilt and distance separately, so you can put the top edge exactly where the calculator says.
- Holds the position once set, with no slow drift downward
- Can go lower than most factory stands, which is what tall screens and shorter users need
- Frees the desk space the stand used to take
Rain Design mStand Laptop Stand
A fixed aluminum stand that lifts a laptop screen and keeps air moving underneath it.
- No adjustment to fiddle with, which also means check its height against your number before buying
- Needs a separate keyboard and mouse once the laptop is up
- Open underside keeps the laptop cooler during long sessions
When the chair or desk is the real problem
All of the numbers above assume the chair is set so your forearms are level with the desk. If you sit too low, the desk feels high and the monitor ends up above your eyes no matter how you set it. Raise the chair until the forearms are level, then add a footrest if your feet no longer reach the floor. The desk height calculator gives seat, desk and screen heights from the floor for any height. If you are under 5’4″ and the chair will not go low enough, see office chairs for short people.
Monitor height is one part of the setup. The ergonomic desk setup guide covers the changes that matter most before you spend anything, the converter versus full standing desk comparison helps if you are adding a standing option, and whether you need a footrest covers the other end of the body. Even a well-placed screen does less if you stay in front of it for three hours, so pair this with how often to get up from your desk.
Frequently asked questions
How high should a monitor be?
The top of the screen should be at or slightly below eye level, with the center 15 to 20 degrees below straight ahead, according to OSHA. Seated at a desk set to your elbows, that means the top edge sits a little under a quarter of your height above the desk surface: about 17.2 inches for someone 5’9″ and 15.7 inches for someone 5’3.5″.
Should the top of my monitor be exactly at eye level or below it?
Slightly below on most screens. What fixes the position is the middle of the screen sitting 15 to 20 degrees under your line of sight. On a 24-inch monitor at a normal distance that leaves the top edge about an inch below your eyes. Only on tall screens does the top come right up to eye level.
What is the eye level of an average man sitting?
For a man of the US average height of 68.9 inches (CDC, 2021 to 2023), seated eye height is about 48 inches off the floor barefoot in a chair set for his legs, or around 49 inches in shoes. Above a desk set to his elbows, his eyes are about 18 inches up.
How far away should my monitor be?
OSHA says at least 20 inches, with 20 to 40 inches preferred, measured from the eyes to the front of the screen. Close enough to read every line with your head and back upright. If small text pulls you forward, increase the display scaling instead of moving the screen closer.
How high should a monitor be on a standing desk?
Higher above the desk than when sitting, because standing eye height sits further above elbow height. For the average man the top edge of a 24-inch screen goes about 20 inches above a standing desk set to his elbows, and about 18 inches for the average woman.
Can a wrong monitor height cause neck pain?
OSHA notes that a screen set too high makes you work with the head tilted back, and too low pulls the head forward, and that holding awkward postures fatigues the muscles that support the head. A systematic review of neck pain in college students found improper sitting posture among the associated factors, though it did not test monitor height directly. Sharp or lasting pain that does not ease after fixing the setup is worth showing to a clinician.
Grab a tape measure, measure from your desk to the top of your screen, and compare it with the calculator. Most people find the answer is a few inches of adjustment on what they already own, not new equipment.
Sources
- OSHA, Computer Workstations eTool, Monitors: top of the screen at or below eye level, center 15 to 20 degrees below horizontal, viewing distance, tilt and glare.
- CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, Body Measurements: measured average height of US adults, August 2021 to August 2023.
- Drillis, R. and Contini, R., Body Segment Parameters, Report 1166-03, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, New York University, 1966: segment lengths as fractions of standing height.
- PubMed, Risk factors for neck pain in college students: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
From the Relief for Body desk
Every guide here is built from the manufacturer’s own documentation, published safety guidance, and the pattern in what owners report over months of use, not from a lab or a clinic. Nothing is sponsored, and verdicts are settled before any affiliate link goes in. We are not clinicians, and nothing on this site replaces one. How we review explains the process.
This article is general information, not medical advice. If pain is sharp, persistent, or getting worse, see a clinician.
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