# How far should you sit from a Wi-Fi router?

> About 8,000 µW/m² at 1 m for a 100 mW router, 80 µW/m² at 10 m; 2–3 m of separation captures most of the benefit.

- Canonical URL: https://emfbase.com/questions/how-far-from-wifi-router
- Collection: Direct answers
- Record id: `questions:how-far-from-wifi-router`
- Status: verified
- Last verified: 2026-08-12
- JSON: https://emfbase.com/api/questions/how-far-from-wifi-router
- Also known as: safe distance from router, wifi router distance bedroom

## Key values

- **Topic:** distances

## Question

How far away from a Wi-Fi router should I be?

## Answer

For a typical 100 mW access point, free-space power density is roughly 8,000 µW/m² at 1 m, 880 µW/m² at 3 m and 80 µW/m² at 10 m, so most of the available reduction comes from the first few metres. Keeping the router out of bedrooms and more than 2–3 m from where you sit for hours is the practical answer; scheduling the radio off overnight removes night-time exposure entirely. All of these levels are far below the FCC and ICNIRP public limits, and ARPANSA's measurements of Wi-Fi in schools put typical exposures at a small fraction of those limits.

## Related records

- [Wi-Fi router (2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz)](https://emfbase.com/emitters/wifi-router): A consumer access point radiating roughly 100 mW EIRP per band, giving about 8,000 µW/m² at 1 m and 80 µW/m² at 10 m in free space.
- [Inverse-square law](https://emfbase.com/glossary/inverse-square-law): In the far field, doubling the distance quarters the power density: the cheapest and most reliable mitigation available.

## Sources

- `fcc-part15` U.S. Government Publishing Office (eCFR). *47 CFR Part 15 — Radio Frequency Devices (unlicensed transmitter power limits)*. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/part-15 — regulation, link checked 2026-08-12
- `arpansa-wifi` Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency. *Wi-Fi and health*. https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/radiation-sources/more-radiation-sources/wifi — government, link checked 2026-08-12
- `itu-fs-relations` International Telecommunication Union. *Free-space path loss and power density relations (ITU-R P.525)*. https://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-P.525/en — standard, link checked 2026-08-12

Data licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Dataset version 2026.08.1. Retrieved from EMFBase, https://emfbase.com.

This record is reference data, not medical or legal advice. Regulatory limits, scientific guidelines and precautionary values are labelled separately and answer different questions.