The depth of a computer desk is often the most overlooked characteristic, but I believe it is one of the most important.
The depth of your desk will dictate how you can arrange everything on your desk to best suit your needs.
As such a desk needs to have a sufficient depth to ensure that you can place your monitor(s), keyboard, and mouse ergonomically. Having an ergonomic desk setup is becoming ever more important, with lower back pain being a common result of office work, so it’s essential to have a desk that allows you to make an ergonomic setup.
A 28 to 33 inch deep work surface is recommended for a desk used for both typing and written work. A desk used for only typing or only writing is normally 20 to 30 inches deep. A standard desk would be 30 inches deep, 60 inches wide, and 30 inches high.
These are standard measurements, however, the required depth is somewhat a personal preference. Despite this, certain tasks, such as programming, video editing, or even specific monitor setups are best suited by desks of different depths.
Desk Dimensions
I have another article where I discuss desk measurements in detail, but I will keep it brief here. Depth refers to the length of the short side of the desk.
Desk depth, in simple terms, refers to how far back the desk goes when you are sitting at it. It is measured from the front edge of the desk to the back edge of the desk.
Within the depth of a desk you have to fit everything you need so the bigger the better.
If you intend to do written work on your desk, then it is incredibly convenient to have room for both your keyboard and papers in the center of your desk without having to make room every time you switch from digital to written work.
This article will discuss desk depths for different needs, as well as how to fully utilize your deskspace if you find your desk isn’t deep enough.
How Deep Should an Office Desk Be?
An office desk that you are going to use for work or study should have a large enough surface area for you to be able to fit your monitors, mouse, keyboard, lamp, and other desk accessories.
A computer desk should be 28 to 33 inches deep, and at least 60 inches wide, to fit everything you will need to work.
These are simply standard recommendations, if space allows, larger dimensions are advantageous in almost every situation.
You can find out whether a 24″ or 27″ monitor is better for office work here.
If the back of your desk is against a wall, a greater depth also provides more leg room and is, therefore, more comfortable and ergonomic for long-term use.
If your home office doesn’t contain a PC or the peripherals that come along with one, then you can likely suffice with a shallower depth, anywhere between 20 and 30 inches. Although, as I’ve already emphasized bigger is better in this situation.
I’ve tried to tick off most home office setups, but as I’ve already said, there is no definitive answer.
So my final piece of advice would be to go for the deepest desk you can get within your budget, but don’t forget to consider other requirements such as width, height, and sturdiness, as these all also play a crucial role in what you will get from your desk.
How Deep Should A Gaming Desk Be?
When gaming at a desk it’s easy to spend more time at a desk than the majority of office workers without beginning to consider the detriment this could have.
Considering this, ergonomics are vital to consider. And a deeper desk gives you more freedom to set up your monitors at an ergonomic distance, which reduces eye strain.
A deeper desk will also allow you to rotate your keyboard for more comfortable WASD control, as I and many others find more comfortable when gaming.
28 to 33 inches is an ideal desk depth for a gaming setup, in order to make room for all the peripherals required. A width of 60+ inches is the recommendation for a gaming setup.
Obviously, the size of desk you decide upon will depend on multiple factors, like what monitors you have, if you also have to make room for streaming equipment, or if your desk has to double up as a workspace. You might find my articles recommending desks for multiple monitors or ultrawide monitors useful to see the ranges in dimensions I see fit for particular situations.
How Deep Should A Desk Be For My Monitor?
Most monitors take up a similar amount of the depth of a desk, as they mainly take up the width.
That said, some monitors have larger bases than others, meaning one monitor may use twice the depth of a monitor with a slimmer base.
If your desk has monitor(s) on it, it’s unlikely to be the monitor taking up most of the depth of the desk. Essential peripherals like a keyboard, mouse, mousemat, etc. are much more likely to be the deciding factor on how deep your desk should be.
If your monitor has a base that goes back less than 4 inches, a desk depth of 25 inches or above will be sufficient. If the base is deeper than 4 inches, 28 to 33 inches in depth would be preferential.
For example, an iMac would fall under the 4 inch plus depth category.
Obviously, there are many more possible monitor setups. Wall-mounted monitors, 2 or 3 monitor setups, or a curved monitor to name a few.
Any array of monitors that has a curve, e.g. a curved monitor or 2/3/4 monitors turned in, will take up more room. So my recommendation in this situation would be to go for a desk with 30 inches or more depth.
If you would like some desks to reference dimensions against then here are some desks I suggest for Multiple Monitors.
How Deep Should a Desk Be For an Ultrawide Monitor?
If your ultrawide monitor is flat, a 25 to 33 inch depth is ideal. If your ultrawide monitor is curved, 28 inches or more in depth is recommended due to the depth consumed by the curve. In both cases a width of 60 inches plus is advisable.
If you have a flat ultrawide monitor, the recommended desk depth is identical to the guidelines In the above section.
You might find it helpful to browse some desks fitting these criteria, that I personally recommend for Ultrawide Monitors.
Why Does Desk Depth Matter?
The depth of a desk is the smallest dimension of the tabletop. This makes it the most common limiting factor to how much you can fit on your desk.
With an insufficient desk depth, it can be hard to fit everything you need to use at one time onto the desk.
For example, during high school, I use to have to put textbooks I was working from on my bed (directly to the left of my bed), rather than on the desktop itself. This was because there was simply no room left with my notepad, monitor, and keyboard all on the desk.
I managed with this arrangement but cranking my neck 90 degrees every few minutes wasn’t an ideal situation to be in.
Other than to make more room, a great enough desk depth is essential to achieve an ergonomic position while working (monitors should be an arm’s length away from you). If you haven’t considered the ergonomics of your working environment before here is a quick video from an expert on WSJ, as educating yourself is shown to be an effective method of reducing lower back pain.
What Is The Minimum Depth For A Desk?
A desk with a depth of fewer than 20 inches is unusable for most tasks, besides simply writing. If you intend to have a computer at your desk, 25 inches is the minimum desk depth that will allow you to comfortably fit a monitor or laptop on your desk.
This said, there are ways to maximize utility from desks with a less than ideal depth. The most common example would be a keyboard tray. With a keyboard tray, it’s possible to have a computer at a desk with fewer than 25 inches in depth.
In Conclusion
Hopefully, I have achieved my aim of expressing the importance of having a sufficiently deep desk and have outlined what a ‘sufficiently deep desk’ is in your situation.
So in short, a depth of 25 to 33 inches will suffice in almost all situations, although bigger is always better when it comes to desk depth. The more you want on your desk, the wider and deeper a deks you should look to buy.
