Best Office Chairs
CR's in-house ergonomics expert reviewed eight popular models from Branch, Herman Miller, Steelcase, and others. Here's what we learned.
By Nicholas De Leon
A well-designed office chair is one of the smartest upgrades you can make to your home office.
Ideally, it’s comfortable to sit in, easy to adjust, and provides plenty of support for your back, butt, and arms.
But with so many models to choose from, it can be hard to find the one that’s right for you, especially if you’re shopping online and unable to test for yourself how well the chair fits your build. Given the high prices on certain designs, the last thing you want to do is spend your hard-earned money on a model that leaves you in pain.
That’s why we recently bought and evaluated eight popular office chairs, ranging in price from $170 to more than $2,000, to help guide you to the ideal choice for your needs.
The list includes the Amazon Basics Ergonomic Adjustable High-Back, the Branch Ergonomic Chair, the FlexFit Hyken Mesh Task Chair, the Herman Miller Aeron, the Herman Miller Sayl Chair, the Hon Ignition 2.0 Task Chair, the Steelcase Gesture, and the Steelcase Series 1.
All get billed as ergonomic, but as we discovered that leaves lots of room for interpretation.
“When you see a chair branded as ergonomic, you can’t put a lot of stock in that,” says in-house expert Paul Ritchey, doctor of public health and certified professional ergonomist (CPE), who led the evaluation for Consumer Reports. “What you should be looking for is adjustability, because one hallmark of ergonomics is understanding that one size does not fit all.”
According to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, good ergonomic design can help reduce the number and severity of work-related musculoskeletal disorders caused by varied and repeated stress on muscles, nerves, blood vessels, ligaments, and tendons.
In the reviews below, we rate all eight office chairs on not only ergonomic design (how well they comply with standards and best practices), but also comfort, ease of use, and ease of assembly. We give more weight to the ergonomic design scores than ease of assembly. Building a chair may not be fun, but you only have to do it once.
The comfort scores come from a panel of three people who reviewed each chair after sitting in it for 90 to 120 minutes in a typical work setting. Ease of use considers things like how simple it is to adjust the chair’s controls while seated, how well the controls are labeled, and how clearly the model’s features are explained in manuals and other documentation from the manufacturer.
Before we share our findings, it helps to know a bit more about that last part: sitting in a chair. While many of the models scored well in our evaluations—not one was “bad” per se—even a top-performing chair will offer little benefit if you don’t know how to use it.
How to Properly Sit in a Chair
According to Ritchey, there are a few high-level principles to follow when sizing up a chair. Ultimately, the more it adjusts to fit your torso and limbs the better off you’ll be.
The armrests should support your arms, elbows at your sides (and bent at a 90- to 100-degree angle), while your shoulders are completely relaxed. You may need to raise or lower the height of the armrest to make that happen. Some models also let you slide armrests forward or backward, pivot them, and set them wider apart to provide more clearance for your hips.
The seat should be high enough for you to keep both feet flat on the ground or on a footrest, with equal pressure applied to both. That means your knees are bent at an angle of no less than 90 degrees.
Ideally, you want to adjust the seat pan to leave a roughly two-inch space between the back of your knee and the edge of the seat. “If you don’t have a gap there, it can cause pressure and discomfort,” Ritchey says.
The backrest should ably support your back, of course, but also allow you to ease into a comfortable recline. To start, you want the angle between your torso and thighs to be a little more than 90 degrees, with the lumbar support positioned to help you maintain the natural inward curvature of your lower spine.
Good Ergonomic Design
In our review, we looked at criteria in five categories to see how well each chair aligned with modern ergonomics practices, including those outlined by the ANSI/HFES 100-2007 standard, which is widely used by ergonomists and furniture manufacturers.
The categories included the seat pan, backrest, lumbar support, armrests, and general features (like weight capacity) that increase a model’s adjustability.
All the chairs we examined offered some flexibility to customize the fit, but the more expensive options generally provided greater levels of control.
The chief exception—the Steelcase Series 1—grants a fairly broad range of accommodating features (including four-way adjustable arms) for roughly $490.
The Amazon Basics Ergonomic Adjustable High-Back, priced around $170, earned the lowest ergonomic score in our evaluation, largely because of its limited adjustability.
The armrests can be flipped up and out of the way, for example, but you cannot tailor the angle or height to your needs. The depth of the seat pan (crucial to maintaining that two-inch gap between the edge of the seat and your knees) is fixed, too.
Our panel didn’t find the Amazon Basics chair to be particularly comfortable, either, with the mesh seat stretching too easily, allowing the user to sink into the chair.
Step up in price, however, and you find better results, from the Branch Ergonomic Chair ($329 to start) to the Herman Miller Aeron ($1,195 and up).
Shopping Tips
Here are some more things to think about when shopping for an office chair.
Assembly: Some manufacturers package their models fully constructed, which can be a great time-saver, but also a big headache if you’re not home to receive the delivery or you don’t have a simple way to get the box inside. (Who has a private loading dock at their house?) Putting the chair together yourself presents other challenges. Either way, it helps to know what to expect before the chair arrives.
Materials. Ideally, you want the seat and back to have a breathable fabric or mesh. Leather, synthetic leather, and plastic are not ideal for long days in the saddle.
Casters. Manufacturers often will let you choose chair wheels best suited to the surface beneath your desk. This allows you to glide more easily across a carpet or, better yet, avoid wrestling with a chair determined to zip across the hardwood. If the model you choose doesn’t offer this option and the wheels give you a problem, you can buy a floor mat from an office supply store to help you refine your roll.
Cohabitation. If the chair will be used by various people in your family, it’s even more important to select a model with fine-tuned controls that let you quickly and easily adjust things to suit bodies of different shapes and sizes.
CR’s take: The Steelcase Gesture received the highest scores for ergonomic design, thanks largely to its exceptional adjustability. It’s one of the top choices for comfort, too.
We particularly liked the ease with which you can adjust the seat pan depth and the recline tension and the unmatched level of adjustability in the armrests, though it’s worth noting that you can’t lock the inward or outward movement, which can lead to unexpected shifts when you press down on the armrests to raise yourself out of the chair.
Lumbar height adjustments can be a little challenging when one is seated in the chair. Our panelists had mixed opinions about the comfort of the lumbar support, as well. And, finally, the seat width is slightly smaller than some people with wider hips and thighs might like.
The Gesture comes fully assembled with instructions for the model’s controls inside the box. The controls themselves are not labeled.
Other notable features include the ability to set tilt stops, a backrest that reclines essentially independent of the armrests, an optional headrest for those who like to work in a fully reclined position, and caster selection specific to your flooring.
CR’s take: If you’re looking for great value, it’s hard to top this chair.
In addition to scoring well for ergonomics, it happens to be the most comfortable model on this list. Our panel particularly admired the seat cushion and lumbar support.
The armrests can be adjusted across a range of heights and, though attached to the backrest, tilting back as you recline, they still comfortably support your arms. However, the clearance between them is fixed and may be too narrow for some.
For those who want more control, the manufacturer also offers this model with four-way adjustable armrests.
The Series 1 does not have variable tilt locks or tilt stops for those who like to recline, but does offer three settings: fully upright, fully reclined, and a weight-activated option in between. You can also adjust the seat pan depth and the height of the lumbar support.
The model requires some assembly, but it’s easy to do with the instructions included in the box. The controls are not labeled. They are, however, easy to use.
Other notable features include an optional headrest and caster selection specific to your flooring.
Buy at: Amazon, Steelcase, West Elm
CR’s take: This is a well-designed, very comfortable chair from a brand with a well-deserved reputation in ergonomics. It has some unique features, too. But it comes in three distinct sizes (we evaluated the medium-sized one), so it may not be ideal for families that plan to share the chair or consumers who can’t give it an in-person tryout before the purchase.
The armrests are fully adjustable, even pivoting in or out to make up for the fixed clearance between the rests. They are attached to the backrest, though, moving in concert with the back of the chair, which can make it difficult to maintain a comfortable posture when reclined.
The Aeron offers three lumbar support options. We opted to test the Adjustable Posturefit SL, which features two pads—one for your lumbar, the other for your sacrum—that flex independently. We found that this system does allow you to more finely tune the prominence of the support, but note that you can’t adjust the height of the lumbar support. Factor that in when choosing the size of the chair.
The model offers a wider range of seat heights than other chairs—it even allows you to tilt the seat forward a bit if you’d like—but the widths of the seat and the backrest may be too narrow for some people. The mesh upholstery ably supports the body.
For recline control, we chose the Aeron with the Tilt Limiter and Seat Angle option, which features tilt stops and tension control, providing support without locking you into specific postures. There is no headrest option.
The Aeron comes fully assembled. The controls are labeled, but can be hard to read at times, and, given the wide array of adjustments, they may require a short learning curve. But the instructions for the model—available online only—are first rate.
Other features include caster selection specific to your flooring.
Buy at: Herman Miller
CR’s take: This model from Herman Miller scores nearly as well as the Aeron, but does so at roughly half the price and with a unique design aesthetic that some consumers may prefer. It also features the best controls among the chairs on this list for recline tension.
The chair offers a wide range of adjustments for the armrests, seat height, and lumbar support.
The armrests can be set higher and lower than those on some other models, but they are attached to the backrest, moving in concert with the back of the chair, which can make it difficult to maintain a comfortable posture when reclined.
The seat height can be adjusted to accommodate most users. You can also customize the depth of the seat pan, which is very comfortable, but may be a little too narrow for some.
Instead of tilt locks, the model uses tilt stops to limit the maximum recline angle, which can make it easier to get in and out of the chair. (You don’t have to first disengage the lock.) There is no headrest option, though, for those who like to fully recline.
Due to the model’s distinctive design, the backrest is relatively narrow compared with those on other chairs. And, while the lumbar support is height adjustable, it feels relatively subtle, according to our panelists.
The Sayl comes fully assembled. The controls are not labeled, but our panel found them to be easy to use, even while seated, aside from the one for armrest height, which can be a little tricky. The instructions for the model—available online only—are great.
Other notable features include caster selection specific to your flooring.
Buy at: Herman Miller
CR’s take: The Hon Ignition 2.0 is a good all-around pick, especially given the price.
Our panel found the chair to be comfortable and well-designed with plenty of adjustment options for the armrests, seat pan depth, and lumbar support.
The armrests operate somewhat independent of the backrest, making it easier to comfortably support the arms in a reclined position. Even better, the clearance between the rests can be adjusted for those who need more room.
The seat pan depth is adjustable, but the minimum setting may not leave enough space between the seat edge and the knees for certain people. Some may find the width of the seat too narrow, too.
Instead of tilt stops, the model uses tilt locks, but the recline tension control works really well, according to our panel. The model does not feature a headrest, though, for those who like to fully recline. And, while the lumbar support is somewhat subtle, it provides adequate support—and at an impressive range of heights.
All those features make this chair a worthwhile purchase, but you’ll need a measure of patience to assemble it and master the controls. The diagrams in the instructions can be overly complex and they don’t always match the chair. They don’t explain how to use the controls, either. For that, you have to go online, and the info we found was not specific to our model. Making things harder, the controls on the chair are generally unlabeled and somewhat confusing. (The recline tension knob is one exception.) Our panelists often found themselves activating the seat pan depth control by accident.
Buy at: Amazon, Home Depot, Staples, Target, Walmart
CR’s take: This model features lots of controls to help you tailor the fit, but some panelists weren’t comfortable with the pronounced feel of the lumbar support.
You can change the armrest clearance and slide the arm pads forward and backward, but the height settings may not dip low enough to support a relaxed shoulder posture for some people.
The seat pan may be slightly too narrow for some and, while adjustable, too deep for shorter users. And, according to our panelists, the backrest doesn’t provide as much support as you can find in other chairs.
The model requires assembly and the instructions are available only by typing in a URL or scanning a QR code, which can be a challenge if you view them on a phone screen. The controls are not labeled and some—like the lumbar height and backrest recline tension—are difficult, if not impossible, to use while seated.
Other notable features include tilt locks and an optional headrest.
Buy at: Branch
CR’s take: This chair is not as adjustable and comfortable as others, but could be a good budget option if you can find a way to test the fit before buying it. In the end, you can only change the height of the armrests (but the lowest setting may still be too high for some users), the height of the lumbar support, the backrest recline tension, and the positioning of the included headrest.
The lumbar support is difficult to adjust while seated. The backrest recline tension is difficult to adjust overall, and next to impossible while seated, given the location of the control beneath the seat and the force needed to turn it.
The seat pan might not be wide enough to accommodate people with wider hips and thighs, the hard plastic frame limits comfort in a similar way, and the mesh fabric gives too much, allowing the user to sink into the chair, potentially placing excess pressure on the underside of the thigh.
The model requires some assembly. Parts are separated into step-by-step, color-coded packages and the controls are labeled, but the symbols and text are molded into the black plastic, making them very difficult to read.
Other notable features include tilt locks and a headrest.
CR’s take: This chair received the lowest scores for ergonomic design in large part because the controls are limited. You can’t adjust the height of the armrests, the width of the armrests, or the depth of the seat pan.
The backrest is supposed to have three locking positions, according to the instructions, but we could get only two—the upright and fully reclined options—to work. The only lumbar support is a subtle curve in the backrest.
The seat pan might not be wide enough to accommodate those with wider hips and thighs, the hard plastic frame limits comfort in a similar way, and the mesh fabric gives too much, allowing the user to sink into the chair, potentially placing excess pressure on the underside of the thigh. One panelist sank deep enough to rest lightly on the chair frame below.
The armrests are attached to the backrest, moving in concert with the back of the chair, which can make it difficult to maintain a comfortable posture when reclined.
The assembly process is relatively straightforward and the controls are labeled, but they can be hard to read, confusing, and unhelpful.
Other notable features include the ability to flip the armrests up (though not fully out of the way) and a headrest that comes in the box.
Buy at: Amazon
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