Long enough to keep from bending my knees while putting on shoes.  Cartilage is gone from both of my knees, and they pop and snap bone to bone when I bend over.  Other cheaper shoehorns seem to break easily, so far this heavy duty one seems to do the job without bending.  I couldn't find a shoehorn long enough in the past, but this heavy quality unit works well.  Time will tell if it holds up to heavy use, I liked the others when I first got them.  I like this well enough that I have now ordered two more for different locations where I take off my shoes in the house.