Office space per person calculator
- Desk positions needed
- 84
- Desk area, square feet
- 5040
- Net area before circulation, square feet
- 8340
- Total area needed, square feet
- 10425
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs entered, by the method stated below it. HardFM publishes no space standard, no square feet per person that any body recommends, no attendance rate and no insurance requirement: the desk ratio, the area per desk, the circulation allowance, the attendance and what a contractor must hold are your organisation's own figures and rules.
The figures above start from a worked example (84). Change any input and the answer updates as you type.
Download the Office space per person calculator worked example (CSV)
This is an office space per person calculator that works the floor a headcount needs from your own rules. Headcount times the desk ratio is the desks; desks times the area you allow each is the desk area; add the meeting and collaboration space and the support space; add the circulation allowance; and the total over the headcount is the square feet per person. Every input is yours, the worksheet publishes no standard and no recommended figure, and the answer is on the page free with no account. The paid plan saves every worksheet against the building.
Desks from the sharing ratio, not from the headcount
120 people at 7 desks per 10 is 84 desk positions; at 10 per 10 it would be 120. The ratio is the biggest single lever on the floor and it is yours: measure the attendance first and the space utilization worksheet returns the ratio the attendance supports.
The desk area, the shared space and the circulation
84 desks at 60 square feet is 5,040 square feet; with 1,800 of meeting space and 1,500 of support it is 8,340 net; with 25% circulation it is 10,425 square feet. The area per desk and the allowance are your own standard or your designer's, and the worksheet asserts neither.
Square feet per person, the figure the lease conversation uses
10,425 square feet over 120 people is 86.9 square feet a person. Change the ratio to a desk each and the same allowances give 118.1; the worksheet shows the difference so the sharing decision and the floor decision are made together. For a reference point outside your own figures, the U.S. General Services Administration sets a design requirement of 150 usable square feet per person for federal office space, leased or federal, except public-facing areas (GSA USE IT Act reporting guidelines, read 2026-09-05); that is the government's rule for its own buildings, not a standard this worksheet applies to yours.
Office space per person calculator: common questions
How much office space per person do I need?
The worksheet works it from your own headcount, desk ratio, area per desk, meeting and support space and circulation allowance: on the worked example, 120 people at 7 desks per 10 and 60 square feet a desk with 1,800 and 1,500 square feet of shared space and 25% circulation is 10,425 square feet, 86.9 a person. It publishes no standard figure of its own; the one external reference on this page is the U.S. General Services Administration's design requirement of 150 usable square feet per person for federal office space, which binds federal agencies and nobody else.
Is this free office space per person calculator really free?
Yes. Enter the six figures and it works the desks, the desk area, the net area, the total and the square feet per person, on the page, with no account and no card. HardFM Pro saves every worksheet against the building and adds your organisation's name.
What counts as support space and circulation?
Support space is what the floor needs that is neither a desk nor a meeting room: reception, kitchen, storage, print, plant. Circulation is the corridors and the space between things, entered as a percentage added to the net area. Both are your own figures or your designer's; the worksheet sets no rule about either.
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Keeping what you make
The worksheets are free forever. Pro turns them into the record: every space and desk kept against the building with who is booked into it, the occupancy the floor sees week by week, every contractor cleared to be on site with the insurance, the induction and the date each expires, and every worksheet you save reopened under your own name.
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Cite or embed this figure
Office space per person calculator (Desk positions needed): 84, HardFM, worked example.
Cite as: "Office space per person calculator, HardFM", updated 2026-09-05, https://hardfmly.com/tools/office-space-per-person/.