Correct Keyboard Height and Position at a Desk

Your keyboard should sit at or slightly below elbow height, so your elbows bend around 90 degrees (or a little more open), your shoulders stay relaxed, and your wrists stay straight. Place it close enough that your upper arms hang near your sides, with the letter keys centered on your body. Keep it flat or tilted slightly away from you, not propped up on its back feet.

Getting there usually means adjusting your chair first, then the keyboard, then everything else around it. Here's the full process.

The target position

Element	Target
Keyboard height	Home row at or slightly below elbow height
Elbow angle	Around 90 to 110 degrees
Shoulders	Relaxed and down, not shrugged
Upper arms	Hanging close to your sides, not reaching forward
Wrists	Straight: not bent up, down or sideways
Distance	Close enough that you don't lean or reach; often a few inches from the desk edge
Horizontal position	The "B" key (center of the letter keys) lined up with your belly button
Tilt	Flat or tilted slightly downward away from you

Step-by-step setup

1. Set your chair height first

Sit back in your chair with your feet flat on the floor and thighs roughly parallel to it. Your hips should be level with or slightly higher than your knees.

2. Find your elbow height

Let your arms hang relaxed at your sides, then bend your elbows to about 90 degrees with forearms parallel to the floor. The underside of your forearms is roughly where the keyboard's home row should be. A quick way to check: have someone measure from the floor to the underside of your bent elbow, or measure against a wall.

3. Compare with your desk

Now check where your keyboard sits relative to that elbow height. Many fixed desks are around 29 to 30 inches tall, and a keyboard on top adds another inch or more. For a lot of people, especially those under average height, that's too high. The signs:

Your shoulders creep up toward your ears.
Your wrists bend upward to reach the keys.
Your elbows flare out to the sides.

4. Fix a keyboard that's too high

You have three options, in order of cost:

Raise your chair until your elbows are level with the keyboard. Then, if your feet no longer rest flat, put a box, a stack of books or a sturdy footrest under them. This is the most common fix and it's nearly free.
Use a lower keyboard. Thin, low-profile keyboards reduce the height difference slightly.
Lower the work surface. A height-adjustable desk, or a keyboard tray mounted under the desk, lets you set the keyboard at exactly the right height.

5. Fix a keyboard that's too low

Less common, but it happens with low coffee tables or tall people at standard desks. You'll notice yourself hunching forward or straightening your arms to reach down. Lower your chair (if the rest of your setup allows it), raise the desk, or place the keyboard on a sturdy, stable platform.

6. Bring the keyboard close

Pull the keyboard toward you until your upper arms can hang naturally near your sides. If you have to lean forward or reach, it's too far. Leaving an inch or two of desk in front of the keyboard is fine, but a keyboard at the back of a deep desk forces your shoulders to work all day.

7. Center the letter keys, not the whole keyboard

On a full-size keyboard, the number pad pushes the letter keys to the left of center. If you center the whole keyboard, your hands sit off to one side and your mouse ends up far to the right. Instead, line up the B key (roughly the middle of the letters) with the center of your body. Your monitor should be centered on the same line.

If you rarely use the number pad, a compact keyboard without one lets you bring the mouse closer too.

8. Set the tilt

Most keyboards have flip-out feet on the back. Using them tilts the keys toward you, which bends your wrists upward. For most people, a flat keyboard is better. Some find a slight negative tilt (front edge a little higher than the back) keeps their wrists straightest, especially when the keyboard sits in a tray below desk height.

9. Check your wrists

With your hands on the home row, look at your wrists from the side and from above.

From the side: your hand, wrist and forearm should form a roughly straight line.
From above: your hands shouldn't angle outward toward your pinkies.

If your wrists bend sideways, your keyboard may be too narrow for your shoulders, or too far away. Moving it closer often helps. A split or angled keyboard is another option if the problem persists.

Wrist rests: helpful or harmful?

A wrist rest (more accurately, a palm rest) can help if you use it during pauses. The problem is resting your wrists on it while typing, which anchors the wrist and bends it upward to reach the keys.

Use it for: resting the heels of your palms between bursts of typing.
Avoid: planting your wrists and typing with the fingers only.
Choose: a soft, even rest roughly the same height as the front of your keyboard.
Skip: hard desk edges under your wrists. They press on the underside of the wrist.

Laptop users

A laptop keyboard is attached to the screen, so you can't put both in the right place at once. If you raise the laptop to eye level, the keyboard is too high. If you keep the keyboard at elbow height, the screen is too low.

The fix is to separate them: raise the laptop on books or a laptop stand so the screen is at or slightly below eye level, and add an external keyboard and mouse at elbow height.

Standing desk users

The same rules apply when standing: keyboard at or slightly below elbow height with relaxed shoulders. Set the height with the shoes you usually wear, and save it as a preset. Common mistakes when standing include setting the desk too high, which makes shoulders shrug, and locking the knees.

Mouse placement

Your mouse belongs right next to the keyboard, at the same height, so your arm stays close to your body. If you often reach far to the right for the mouse, you'll feel it in your shoulder. A compact keyboard, or placing a mouse on the left occasionally, can reduce that reach.

Common mistakes

Adjusting the keyboard before the chair. Chair height determines elbow height, so start there.
Using the back feet by default. They increase wrist extension for most people.
Keyboard at the back of the desk. You end up leaning or reaching.
Centering a full-size keyboard. Your hands sit off-center; line up the B key instead.
Typing with wrists planted on a rest. Float while typing, rest during pauses.
Pounding the keys. Heavy keystrokes add strain. A lighter touch helps no matter the keyboard.
Never taking breaks. Relax your hands and shake out your arms every 30 to 60 minutes.

When to get help

A good keyboard position can reduce strain, but it isn't a treatment. If you have ongoing wrist, forearm or shoulder pain, or any numbness, tingling or weakness in your hands, get it checked by a doctor or physiotherapist.

Quick checklist

Chair set first: feet flat, thighs roughly parallel to the floor.
Home row at or slightly below elbow height.
Elbows around 90 to 110 degrees, shoulders relaxed.
Keyboard close enough that your upper arms hang by your sides.
B key centered on your body.
Keyboard flat or slightly tilted away; back feet folded in.
Wrists straight from the side and from above.
Mouse right beside the keyboard at the same height.
Too high desk? Raise your chair and support your feet.