At 6'2" (188 cm), a standard 29-inch desk is about 0.6 inches (2 cm) too low. If you have been working at one, you already know the two symptoms: your knees keep finding the underside of the desk, and you spend the day folded slightly toward the keyboard.
The number that decides this is your seated elbow height, and at your height that is roughly 29.6" (75 cm). Getting the work surface up to it is the whole job.
Your numbers at 6'2"
| Measurement | Your target |
|---|---|
| Sitting desk surface | 28.6–29.6" (73–75 cm) |
| Standing desk surface | 46.6" (118 cm) |
| Chair seat height | ~18.5" (47 cm) |
| Monitor top edge (level with your eyes) | ~51.8" (132 cm) |
| Screen centre on a 27-inch panel | ~45.2" (115 cm) |
| Seated eye height | ~132 cm |
| Desk needs raising by | ~0.6" (2 cm) |
These are starting points from population averages, not prescriptions. If your shoulders still creep upward after an hour, adjust in half-inch steps.
How your numbers compare at 6'2" and nearby heights
| Height | Desk surface | Chair seat | Standing desk | Monitor top |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 183 cm | 71–73 cm | ~46 cm | ~115 cm | ~128 cm |
| 188 cm — you | 73–75 cm | ~47 cm | ~118 cm | ~132 cm |
| 193 cm | 75–77 cm | ~48 cm | ~122 cm | ~135 cm |
Two people ten centimetres apart in height differ by about four centimetres in desk height — enough to notice, which is why the generic advice never quite fits anyone.
Why a too-low desk is not a small problem
A desk that is too low forces the opposite of the posture you want. Instead of your shoulders holding your arms up, your whole trunk leans forward and down to reach the keyboard, and your chin follows it. Your head weighs about 5 kg; held straight that is nothing, but carried forward a few centimetres for hours it roughly doubles the load on your neck. Tall people with neck pain usually have a desk problem, not a posture discipline problem.
Then there is knee clearance. Standard desks put a drawer unit or a crossbeam right where your knees want to be. The instinctive response is to push the chair back — which puts the keyboard further away and makes you lean forward more. Two problems, one cause.
Standing desks have the mirror-image problem at your height: check the maximum, not the minimum. Your standing elbow height is about 46.6" (118 cm), and a lot of budget frames top out at 47" or 48". Read the travel range before you buy, and check whether the desktop itself is long enough to sit at that height without wobble.
Where 29 inches stops being enough
At 6'2" you are about 0.6" above a standard desk, which is the point where the compensation stops being free. You can live with it, but you will spend the day leaning slightly forward, and the usual giveaway is that your knees have found the desk's crossbeam or drawer unit.
Two things are worth checking before you buy anything:
Frame maximums are measured inconsistently. A standing desk advertised at 48" may measure to the top of the legs rather than the desktop surface, which puts the real working height an inch or two below your 46.6" target. Look for the travel range stated as a desktop height range.
Chair backrest height matters now. At 6'2" a mid-back chair leaves your upper back and shoulders unsupported, which matters more than the seat height — most chairs reach your seat height of about 18.5" without difficulty. Look for a high back with an adjustable lumbar.
Knee clearance is the other half of it. A desk that is 0.6" too low tends to put its crossbeam or drawer unit exactly at knee height. Before you raise anything, check whether the drawer unit can simply be removed or shifted to one side — at 6'2" that alone often buys enough room to sit properly, and it costs nothing. Raising the desk then becomes a matter of your elbows rather than your knees.
How to raise a desk that is too low
1. Furniture risers or bed risers ($10–$25). The cheapest way to buy 0.6" (2 cm). Stackable sets let you dial it in. The downside is stability — a desk sitting loose on risers will wobble more, so check it before you commit, and never raise a desk with heavy equipment high off the floor without anchoring it.
2. Adjustable or extended desk legs ($30–$80). Proper leg extensions or a set of taller adjustable legs are the stable version of the same idea, and they let you get the exact 28.6–29.6" you need rather than whatever the riser height happens to be.
3. A high-travel standing desk frame ($250–$600). The cleanest fix, and the only one that does sitting and standing properly. You need a maximum at or above 46.6" (118 cm) — check this explicitly, because a surprising number of frames stop at 47" — and a minimum at or below 28.6" (73 cm) so sitting is not ruined in exchange.
4. Raise the monitor at the same time. The top edge of your screen needs to reach about 132 cm. Raising the desk usually gets you part of the way, but a monitor arm or a riser is still required. Removing the drawer unit under the desk to reclaim knee space is free and often more valuable than any of the above.
FAQ
Can I just put my desk on risers?
Yes, and at 6'2" it is often the right first move — you need about 0.6 inches (2 cm). Use solid furniture risers rather than stacks of unstable material, and check for wobble before loading the desk fully. Leg extensions are the more permanent version.
What standing desk height do I need?
About 46.6 inches (118 cm). This is the number to check in the spec sheet: many budget frames top out at 47" or 48" and will not reach it. Verify the maximum before anything else.
My knees hit the desk. What do I do?
First, remove or reposition any drawer unit or crossbeam under your sitting position — that is usually the actual obstruction and it costs nothing. If the desk itself is too low, raising it to 28.6–29.6" will often solve the knee problem as a side effect.
Do I need a special chair?
Probably not for height — most chairs reach your seat height of about 18.5" (47 cm). What you should check is seat depth and backrest height: a chair with a short backrest or a low headrest will leave your upper back unsupported at 6'2".
My knees hit the desk but the height looks fine. Why?
It is usually the crossbeam or a drawer unit rather than the desktop itself. Before raising anything, check whether the drawer can be removed or shifted to one side — at 6'2" that alone often buys the clearance you need, and it costs nothing. Raise the desk only if the desktop height is genuinely below 28.6–29.6".
Do I need a high-back chair?
It matters more than seat height at your height. Most chairs reach your 18.5" (47 cm) seat height without difficulty, so the specification that actually varies is backrest height — a mid-back leaves your upper back and shoulders unsupported. Look for a high back with adjustable lumbar, and skip headrests that cannot be raised to your shoulder blades rather than your neck.
Related
If you want to go deeper on raising a desk rather than replacing it, how to set up a standing desk covers the full sequence.
The desk height calculator gives you these same figures from your own measurements instead of from your height — worth doing, because two people of the same height can differ by several centimetres in elbow height depending on leg and torso proportions.
Nearest heights to yours: desk height for 6'4".
Once the desk is right, check monitor height, which is measured from your eyes and not from the desk, and keyboard and mouse height if you cannot move the desk itself.
Get your exact numbers
Enter your height and see the desk, chair, and monitor heights that fit you — about 30 seconds.