Your screen is where your eyes and neck spend the whole day, so a monitor a few centimetres too low quietly taxes you for hours. The good news: getting it right is three quick measurements, and they cost nothing. This is the screen half of our full ergonomic home office setup.
Height: top of the screen at eye level
The rule most people get wrong. Sit up straight and look ahead: the top of the screen should sit at, or just below, your eye level. Your gaze then naturally falls slightly downward onto the middle of the screen — the position your neck is happiest in. A monitor that's too low (a laptop on a desk is the classic offender) pulls your head forward and down all day.
If your screen is too low, raise it: a monitor arm, a proper stand, a riser, or a stack of sturdy books all work. Most standalone monitors are sold too low on their factory stands.
If you wear varifocal or bifocal glasses, you may need the screen a little lower so you're not tipping your head back to use the reading portion of the lens. Comfort beats the rule.
Distance: an arm's length
Sit back and stretch out your arm — your fingertips should just about reach the screen. That's roughly 50–70 cm for a typical 24–27" monitor. Too close strains your eyes and forces you to swivel your head across a big screen; too far and you lean in and hunch. If text is hard to read at arm's length, increase the font size rather than dragging the monitor closer. Bigger screens generally want to sit a touch further back.
Tilt and angle
Tilt the screen back about 10–20° so it faces your eyes square-on, and position it to avoid glare — ideally side-on to the window, as in our lighting guide, so daylight doesn't bounce off it. You shouldn't have to tip your head up or down to see any part of the screen comfortably.
Laptops and small screens
A laptop can't be ergonomic on its own: put the screen at eye level and the keyboard's too high; put the keyboard right and the screen's too low. The fix is to raise the laptop on a stand and add an external keyboard and mouse — screen up at eye level, hands down at elbow height. It's the single best few pounds a laptop worker can spend.
Two monitors and ultrawides
The same rules apply, with one addition: align the tops of both monitors at eye level and angle them into a shallow arc around your chair, so you turn your head rather than straining your eyes to the edges. The full method is in our dual monitor setup guide. An ultrawide follows the height and tilt rules but sits slightly further back so the far edges stay in comfortable view.
Top of the screen at eye level, an arm's length away, tilted back a touch: three numbers, no cost, and a neck that stops filing complaints at five o'clock.
Frequently asked questions
How high should my monitor be?
Set the monitor so the top of the screen is at or just slightly below your eye level when you sit up straight. Your gaze then falls slightly downward to the middle of the screen, which keeps your neck neutral. If a monitor sits too low, raise it on a stand, arm, or a stack of books.
How far away should a monitor be?
About an arm's length — roughly 50 to 70 cm for a typical 24 to 27 inch screen. If you find yourself leaning in to read, increase the text size rather than pulling the monitor closer. Larger screens generally want to sit a little further back.
Should a monitor be tilted?
Yes, slightly. Tilt the screen back by about 10 to 20 degrees so it faces your eyes squarely and reduces glare from overhead light. The whole screen should be comfortable to view without tilting your head up or down.