TV Mounting Height Calculator

The short answer

Mount the TV so the center of the screen sits at your eye level when you sit down. For an average adult on a sofa or chair, that’s about 42 in from the floor. Centered at 42 in, a 65 inch screen runs from about 26 in to 58 in off the floor.

That’s lower than many people expect. The calculator starts from your own eye height, so the answer fits your sofa, and it checks the angle when a console, dresser or mantel pushes the TV higher.

Not sure which size you need yet? Start with the TV size calculator, then come back with the size it suggests.

How to measure your eye height

1. Sit where you usually watch, the way you usually sit. Leaning back on a deep sofa puts your eyes lower than sitting up straight.
2. Have someone measure from the floor to your eyes. Round to the nearest half inch.
3. Watching from bed? Measure while sitting up against the pillows, the way you watch.
4. More than one regular seat? Measure each and use the average, or the seat you use most.

Then measure the distance from your eyes to the wall the TV will hang on. The calculator uses it to check the angle when the TV can’t sit at eye level.

How to use the calculator

1. Enter your eye height, the TV size and the viewing distance. The TV size is the number it’s sold as: the screen’s diagonal.
2. Tell it what’s under the TV. With “Nothing in the way,” the center goes at your eye height. With “Furniture or a mantel,” enter the lowest spot for the bottom of the TV: the top of the console, dresser or mantel plus the gap you want above it.
3. Read the result. You get the center height, where the bottom and top of the screen land, and how far above your eye level the screen is.
4. Save or share it. Copy link keeps your numbers in the address, so you can open the result again when you mark the wall.

How we calculate

• Center at eye level. The middle of the screen goes at your eye height when you sit. The average seated eye height, 42 in, is the calculator’s starting value.
• Screen height from the TV size. A 16:9 screen is about 0.49 times its diagonal tall. Half of that sits above the center and half below, which gives the bottom and top of the screen.
• Furniture under the TV. If the bottom of the screen would land below the lowest spot you entered, the calculator moves the TV up just enough to clear it.
• The comfort check. When the TV sits above eye level, the calculator works out the angle from your eyes to the center of the screen and to its top. From the nearest seats, keep the center of the picture within 15° above your eyes and its top within 35°. Those two angles are the line between “Comfortable” and “Steep.”
• Rounding. Heights are shown to the nearest half inch (or centimeter), and they are for the screen itself. The TV’s frame adds a little at the top and bottom.

If everyone in your home is tall, or you watch standing up, measure and use your own eye height.

Worked examples

Worked example

A 65 in TV across from the sofa

What we know

• Eye height when seated: 42 in
• TV size: 65 in
• Viewing distance: 9 ft
• Nothing under the TV

How it works out

1. A 16:9 screen is about 0.49 times its diagonal tall, so a 65 in screen is 31.9 in tall: 15.9 in above and below its center.
2. The center goes at your eye height, 42 in, so you look straight ahead at the middle of the picture.
3. The screen runs from 26.1 in to 57.9 in off the floor.

Mount the TV with its center 42 in from the floor.

Worked example

A 55 in TV over a bedroom dresser

What we know

• Eye height when seated: 48 in
• TV size: 55 in
• Viewing distance: 10 ft
• Lowest spot for the bottom of the TV: 40 in

How it works out

1. A 16:9 screen is about 0.49 times its diagonal tall, so a 55 in screen is 27 in tall: 13.5 in above and below its center.
2. At eye level the bottom of the screen would be at 34.5 in, under the 40 in limit, so the center goes up to 40 in + 13.5 in = 53.5 in.
3. From 10 ft, that center is 3° above your eye level (the guideline is 15° at most) and the top is 9° up (35° at most).
4. The screen runs from 40 in to 67 in off the floor.

Mount the TV with its center 53.5 in from the floor.

Worked example

A 65 in TV above a mantel

What we know

• Eye height when seated: 42 in
• TV size: 65 in
• Viewing distance: 11 ft
• Lowest spot for the bottom of the TV: 56 in

How it works out

1. A 16:9 screen is about 0.49 times its diagonal tall, so a 65 in screen is 31.9 in tall: 15.9 in above and below its center.
2. At eye level the bottom of the screen would be at 26.1 in, under the 56 in limit, so the center goes up to 56 in + 15.9 in = 71.9 in.
3. From 11 ft, that center is 13° above your eye level (the guideline is 15° at most) and the top is 19° up (35° at most).
4. The screen runs from 56 in to 87.9 in off the floor.

Mount the TV with its center 72 in from the floor.

TV mounting height by TV size

With the center of the screen at 42 in, the average seated eye height, here’s where the bottom and top of the screen land for common TV sizes.

A bigger TV doesn’t need a higher center. It just reaches lower and higher around the same point: a 55 inch screen starts at about 28.5 in off the floor, a 75 inch screen at about 23.5 in.

How high can the TV go?

Sometimes eye level isn’t possible, over a dresser, a console or a mantel. The farther back you sit, the higher the center can go before you’re looking up more than 15°. This table assumes an eye height of 42 in.

If the TV has to go higher than that, a tilting mount helps by angling the screen down toward your seat.

From center height to drill holes

1. Mark the center height on the wall where the middle of the TV will be.
2. Find the mounting holes on your TV. On many TVs they aren’t at the center. Measure from the top edge of the TV to the mounting holes, or look them up in the TV’s manual.
3. Follow your mount’s instructions to line the wall plate up with those holes. The plate’s position depends on the mount, so the mount maker’s instructions are the guide here.
4. Check level before you drill, and again before you hang the TV.