How high should a standing desk be?

Most people set up a standing desk by feel: raise it until it seems right, hunch a little, adjust again at 3pm. There's a simpler way. A standing setup only has two measurements that matter, and you can find both in under a minute.

Number one: elbow height

Stand relaxed, let your arms hang, then bend your elbows to 90 degrees. Where your forearms sit is where your keyboard belongs. For most people that's somewhere between 38 and 45 inches off the floor — which is why a fixed-height kitchen counter never quite works, and why anything you stand at needs real adjustment range.

Number two: eye level

The top third of your screen should sit at or just below eye level, so your neck stays neutral instead of pitching forward. This is the measurement laptop users lose by default: a laptop on any surface puts the screen a foot below your eyes, and your neck makes up the difference all day.

The catch: a laptop can't do both

Keyboard at elbow height and screen at eye level are roughly 20 inches apart. A laptop is one object — it physically cannot be in both places. Every ergonomic standing setup solves this the same way: separate the screen from the keyboard.

That's the whole reason DriftDesk ships with a keyboard tray. The stand lifts the laptop up to 24 inches — putting the screen around 34 inches above the desk, eye level for most standing adults at a normal table — while the tray holds an external keyboard and mouse down at elbow height. Two measurements, both correct, on furniture you already own.

A quick setup checklist

• Elbows at 90°, shoulders relaxed, wrists straight on the keyboard.
• Top third of the screen at eye level, about an arm's length away.
• Weight even on both feet — shift often, stand on a mat if you have one.
• Alternate. Sitting isn't the enemy; being stuck in one posture is.