How Much Does An Office Chair Weigh? Why Weight Matters

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Office chairs, likely the pinnacle of your home office and the envy of your colleagues when you have the good one at work. (I’m looking at you Sandra). One of the things that was the most surprising when I started my remote working journey was how it all office chairs are created equal and how much an office chair weight was important.

Standard office chairs weigh between 20-35 pounds (9kg-13.6kg). Big and tall office chairs can support more weight and so weigh more at 40-60 pounds (18kg-27.2kg). 

So why is knowing the weight of your office chair important? And are there any other considerations you need to make when buying an office chair? Keep reading to find out more.

Now if you want my recommendation for the best home office chair it would have to be the Flash Furniture Mid Swivel, which you can read up more on here

(Just a heads up a lot of people reading my blog are in the process of designing their own home office. If you want to save some of the painstaking time I did in designing my office, you can find my recommended products here)

How much does an office chair weigh? 

Okay let’s just lay the groundwork as it is. Office chairs come in a huge variety. Some are suited to be more ergonomic, others are design focused. Some people are even going without sitting down and choosing to go forward with standing desks, but we’re not here to talk about this today. 

As such there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to the standard weight of an office chair however, typically there are two main types of office chairs; Standard office chairs and big and tall office chairs.

Now the British government ( or more specifically York Council) puts the weight of an office chair at 12KG or 26.4 pounds. 

This is pretty accurate but let’s have a look at a few of the best selling ( and my favourite chairs from amazon) and see how much they come out to. 

Just to point out not all of these are office chairs to give a much more general number which will be typical of most home and work  offices. 

Chair Name	Weight Limit	Weight of chair
Flash Furniture	300 pounds (136KG)	11.25 pounds (5.1kg)
Ergonomic Office Chair	280 pounds (113KG)	40.5 pounds (18.3kg)
Furmax Office Chair	280 Pounds (127KG)	35.1 pounds (15.9kg)
Winsome Wood	220 pounds (104KG)	16 pounds (7.2kg)
Poly & Bark	275 pounds (124kg)	11 pounds (4.9kg)

So using this very broad average we can say that the average chair typically weighs 22.7 pounds or 10.2kg. Now this is on  the low side compared to the weight of some of the chairs  on the list so a good scale to use would be between 20 – 35  pounds which would be a lot more accurate. 

Why is the weight of an office chair important? 

So right now you’re probably asking yourself, okay great I know how much an office chair weighs. Why is this important? 

Well typically for the following reasons: 

• Safety 
• Cost 
• Weight capacity 
• Room 
• Future-proofing 

Let’s look at these individually 

Safety

There is nothing worse than heaving around a heavy piece of furniture and chairs are no different. The lighter your chair the easier it will be on your back and health overall. Wikihow has a great article on how to lift furniture correctly so feel free to give it a read here. 

Cost

Usually, the more heavier an item the more it will cost. This is not always due to the increased material of the item but could be because of the shipping weight. I remember ordering in a chair from Alibaba to test out once and the cost of shipping was almost the same as the cost of the chair because of the weight. Definitely something you need to consider. 

Weight capacity

We’ll talk about this more a little bit later on but the heavier the chair the more durable it is likely to be and more weight it will  be able to support. 

Room 

Office chairs that weigh more are usually longer and  larger in size and height then their lighter counterparts. This means you simply have more room to play around with with smaller chairs then you would have for larger ones. 

Future-proofing

Unfortunately the obesity epidemic is growing around the world meaning any chairs you buy might need to be future proof in case of changes you might have in the future. 

What about the different types of chairs? 

As we mentioned earlier, office chairs fall under a wide variety, most home offices will have the following type of chair ( in my opinion)

• Standard Office Chairs
• Big and Tall Office Chairs 
• Wooden Chairs
• Plastic Chairs 
• Gaming Chairs 

Let’s look at these in more detail. 

Standard Office Chairs 

Have a quick look at the chair you’re sitting on reading this  post (unless you all  cosied up in bed in which case I ENVY YOU) It’s likely that b your chair is a variant on this.  

Chair Name	Weight Limit	Chair Weight
Flash Furniture	300 pounds (136KG)	11.25 pounds (5.1 KG)
Ergonomic Office Chair	250 pounds (113KG)	36.3 pounds (16.4KG)
Furmax Office Chair	280 Pounds (127KG)	39.5 pounds (17.9KG)

The average weight of standard office chairs is 29 pounds (13.1kg)

Big & Tall Office chairs 

Big and Tall office chairs are specifically designed for larger people whose weight and size might not be supported by standard office chairs whose weight loads typically cap out at about 250 pounds. 

Chair Name	Weight Limit	Chair Weight
Sadie Big and Tall	400 pounds (181KG)	44 pounds (19.9 KG)
Amazon Basics	500 pounds (226KG)	58 pounds (26.3KG)
Big and Tall Heavy Duty	500 pounds (226KG)	50 pounds (22.6KG)

The average weight of Big and tall office chairs is 50.6 pounds (22.9kg) 

Wooden Chairs

Call me old fashioned, but there is something nice about wooden chairs. For most people this will be what you use if you don’t have a bespoke office chair at home. 

Chair Name	Weight Limit	Chair Weight
Winsome Wood	220 pounds (104KG)	16 pounds (7.2KG)
Poly & Bark	275 pounds (124kg)	12.85 pounds (5.8kg)
Armen Living	250 pounds (113KG)	10.55 pounds (4.78KG)

The average weight limit of  Wooden chairs is 13.1 pounds (5.9kg) 

Plastic Chairs

Plastic chairs are typically a cheaper alternative to office chairs and acrylic can  mean they are often slightly more comfortable than their wooden counterparts. 

Chair Name	Weight Limit	Chair Weight
Flash Furniture	200 pounds (90.7kg)	10 pounds (4.5 KG)
Modway Casper	331 pounds (150KG)	7.68 pounds (3.4 KG)
Poly and Bark	250 pounds (113KG)	11 pounds ( 4.9 KG)

The average weight limit of plastic chairs is 9.56  pounds (4.3  KG) 

Gaming Chairs

Specialised gaming chairs are also becoming commonplace with many people doubling these chiard up for their home offices. 

Chair Name	Weight Limit	Chair Weight
Respawn 110	275 pounds (124kg)	51.8 pounds (23.4KG)
Best Office	250 pounds (113KG)	34 pounds (15.4KG)
Desino	300 pounds (136kg)	52.9 pounds ( 23.9KG)

The average weight of gaming chairs is 46.2 pounds (20.9 KG)

What’s the weight of the average chair using the above results ? 

Using the averages of all the chairs listed gives us a total weight of 29.69 pounds or 13.46kg. This falls right within our range of 20-35 pounds. 

What’s the relationship between chair weight and weight load? 

Let’s use the example we started this post with to determine if there is a relationship between chair weight and weight load. 

Chair Name	Weight Limit	Weight of chair
Flash Furniture	300 pounds (136KG)	11.25 pounds (5.1kg)
Ergonomic Office Chair	250 pounds (113KG)	40.5 pounds (18.3kg)
Furmax Office Chair	280 Pounds (127KG)	35.1 pounds (15.9kg)
Winsome Wood	220 pounds (104KG)	16 pounds (7.2kg)
Poly & Bark	275 pounds (124kg)	11 pounds (4.9kg)

Although it doesn’t seem like there is a relationship let’s look at the weights for the big and tall chairs which are specifically designed for larger people: 

Chair Name	Weight Limit	Chair Weight
Sadie Big and Tall	400 pounds (181KG)	44 pounds (19.9 KG)
Amazon Basics	500 pounds (226KG)	58 pounds (26.3KG)
Big and Tall Heavy Duty	500 pounds (226KG)	50 pounds (22.6KG)

Using this research we can conclude that chairs that weigh more can typically hold more weight and that standard office chairs can hold up to at least 6 times their weight as a minimum. 

Which is the right chair for you – My opinion? 

So now you have a good idea about how much xhiars weigh and why weight is important what should you do, Without getting too metaphorical the best chair for you needs to answer the following questions

• Does your office have enough room for the chair?
• Will the chair be able to sup[port your weight ? 
• Is the chair comfortable to use on a daily basis? 
• Do you like the design of that chair? 

If the answer to that is yes then I think you’re onto a winner. Hopefully this post has given you a few things to think about before buying your next office chair, but would love to hear any questions you might have in the comments below. 

As discussed earlier, my recommendation for the best office chair has to be the flash furniture, not only is the price decent it is also super durable and I know doesn’t leave me feeling numb after 8  hours of straight sitting on it.You can read up more about it here.

Now chairs are one thing but they are not complete without their partners in crime, desks. Now luckily for you I’ve written a few posts you might find useful: 

• How much should office desks weigh
• How much does a standing desk converter cost 
• Do weight ratings on electric desks really matter

Finally a lot of people reading my blog want to know what products I recommend for a home office/remote working. You can find out my recommendations here and learn how I make money whilst working remotely on the side here. 

Happy working!

Fehed.