Average Typing Speed: What Is a Good WPM?
“Good” depends entirely on what you're comparing it to — here are honest ranges, not a certificate.
Quick answer
For regular adult typing, 40–65 WPM is a practical orientation range. The largest empirical keystroke study (Dhakal et al., 2018) recorded a sample mean of 52 WPM across 168,000 online test-takers performing sentence transcription, though broader general-population averages often sit closer to 35–45 WPM. Above 70 WPM is genuinely fast for continuous typing; above 100 WPM is competitive. Crucially, speed without accuracy is counterproductive — a steady 50 WPM typist at 98% accuracy outproduces an erratic 70 WPM typist who has to fix constant mistakes.
“What's a good WPM?” doesn't have one honest answer — it depends entirely on who you're comparing yourself to. A number that's impressive for casual typing is unremarkable for a professional data-entry role, and competitive typists operate in a range that would be a career-defining skill anywhere else. The ranges below are practical, commonly-cited bands, not a universal scientific standard.
By skill level
| Level | WPM range | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | Under 20 WPM | Still locating keys; hunt-and-peck or very early touch typing. |
| Developing | 20–35 WPM | Home row is familiar; full keyboard still requires some looking. |
| Intermediate | 35–50 WPM | Comfortable everyday typing — most casual and office typists land here. |
| Proficient | 50–70 WPM | Fast enough that typing rarely bottlenecks writing speed. |
| Advanced | 70–100 WPM | Professional-level — data entry, transcription, career typists. |
| Competitive | 100+ WPM | Top percentile; typing-competition and speed-test leaderboard territory. |
These are practical ranges for orientation, not a scientific classification — real typists overlap between adjacent bands constantly.
“Is my WPM good?”
Is 20 WPM good?
A normal early-learning pace, but slow for everyday adult typing. Treat it as a baseline while you build key familiarity and accurate finger paths.
Is 30 WPM good?
A usable beginner-to-developing speed. You can handle short messages and simple work, but visual searching or corrections may still interrupt the flow.
Is 40 WPM good?
Solidly average for casual and general office typing — comfortable for everyday writing and messaging, below professional data-entry benchmarks.
Is 50 WPM good?
Above the general average and squarely typical for an experienced office worker; typing stops being the bottleneck for most writing tasks.
Is 60 WPM good?
A strong, professional-level speed — meets or exceeds most entry-level data-entry and administrative job requirements.
Is 70 WPM good?
Fast for sustained ordinary typing. At this level, accuracy and consistency usually matter more than trying to force another short-burst peak.
Is 80 WPM good?
Genuinely fast — in the range of experienced transcriptionists and career typists, well above the vast majority of typists.
Is 90 WPM good?
Exceptional for everyday typing and a demanding sustained pace. Compare it with accuracy and test length before calling it your baseline.
Is 100 WPM good?
Elite for sustained typing — approaching the fastest individuals in large-scale studies, and a realistic ceiling for most people only with dedicated practice.
Is 120 WPM good?
Outstanding. It is closer to competitive or highly trained performance than an ordinary workplace expectation, especially when held with high accuracy.
By context
| Context | Typical range (WPM) |
|---|---|
| General population, casual typing | 30–45 |
| Average office / knowledge worker | 40–65 |
| Professional typist / data entry | 60–80 |
| Programmer (sustained, real code) | 40–70 |
| Transcriptionist / court reporter | 75–100+ |
| Competitive typist (top percentile) | 120–150+ |
These figures—including the commonly cited ranges of 40–55 WPM for general office work, 60–80 WPM for specialized data entry or medical transcription, and 90+ WPM for advanced or competitive typists—are practical industry orientation benchmarks, not universal hiring guarantees. Employment requirements vary substantially by organization, assessment platform, and error penalties. For detailed role requirements, see the data entry typing test guide or our 911 dispatcher typing test guide.
By age and learning stage
Age is a poor standalone predictor of typing speed. Keyboard access, previous instruction, language, motor development, and the type of text being tested all matter. For classroom planning, published grade-level guidance is more useful than pretending there is one population average for every eight-year-old or every adult. Our separate typing speed by age guide keeps those educational bands and their limitations together.
Learning
Under 20 WPM
Key location and accuracy are still the main goal.
Everyday
40–65 WPM
A practical range for regular adult prose typing.
Professional
60–90 WPM
Cambridge typing evaluations observe that professionally trained typists typically sustain 60–90 WPM.
What the largest typing study found (and its limitations)
In 2018, researchers Vivek Dhakal, Anna Feit, Per Ola Kristensson, and Antti Oulasvirta (Aalto University and the University of Cambridge) published Observations on Typing from 136 Million Keystrokes on a Website at the ACM CHI Conference. Analyzing keystroke logs from 168,000 unconstrained volunteers across more than 200 countries on TypingMaster (typingmaster.com), the researchers observed a sample mean speed of 51.6 WPM (commonly rounded to ~52 WPM) with an average uncorrected error rate of 1.5%.
While this provides one of the largest empirical datasets on keyboard dynamics, interpreting the findings requires understanding the study's methodology and population constraints:
- Volunteer Self-Selection: Participants voluntarily took an online test. Self-selected online test-takers skew toward individuals with higher computer usage, keyboard familiarity, and personal interest in testing their speed. Casual general-population typing averages across all computer users are widely estimated closer to 35–45 WPM.
- Task Type (Sentence Transcription): The test measured sentence copying from screen prompts. This is a transcription task, which differs substantially from spontaneous composition (drafting emails or essays), technical coding, or numeric entry where planning and cognitive pauses dominate total time.
- Study Cohort Percentiles: Within this online volunteer group, the median (50th percentile) was approximately 52 WPM, the 75th percentile was approximately 65 WPM, and the 95th percentile reached approximately 90+ WPM. These percentiles describe this specific testing sample rather than a universal global census.
- Rollover & Technique: The study found that rollover typing (initiating a keystroke before releasing the previous key) was the strongest mechanical factor in high speed. Interestingly, strict 10-finger touch typing was not required to achieve fast speeds—many participants achieved 60–80+ WPM using adaptive 6-to-8 finger techniques with consistent key mapping.
Why programmers often type “slower” than expected
Programmer WPM looks low next to office-worker WPM, and that's not a skill gap — it's a different task. Code isn't prose: it's dense with punctuation, symbols, and pauses to think about what to write next, all of which a raw-prose WPM test doesn't measure. A programmer who tests at 55 WPM on plain text may still type code faster, in practical terms, than someone who tests higher but hesitates constantly over unfamiliar symbols and indentation.
Accuracy matters as much as the number
A WPM score without its accuracy is only half the picture. Two typists at 60 WPM are not equally skilled if one holds 98% accuracy and the other holds 88% — the second one is spending real time on corrections that the raw number doesn't show. HeroTyping reports accuracy and consistency alongside WPM on every results screen for this reason. Read what the accuracy percentage means and then use the accuracy training guide if your score is lagging behind your speed.
Why these numbers vary so much between sources
- Test length. Short bursts (15–30s) tend to read higher than sustained multi-minute tests, since fatigue and error-correction haven't caught up yet. See which test duration to use or compare your endurance across our dedicated 30-second, 1-minute, 3-minute, and 5-minute typing tests.
- Text difficulty. Common English words are faster to type than random text, numbers, or unfamiliar punctuation — comparing scores from different text sources isn't really comparing the same thing.
- Net vs. raw WPM. Raw WPM ignores mistakes; net WPM (the number that actually matters) subtracts them. A score reported without saying which one it is can't be compared fairly to another score — HeroTyping always shows both, separately, on the results screen. See how WPM is calculated for the full breakdown.
What actually matters more than the number
A single WPM score is a snapshot, not a skill level — it swings with the text, your focus, and even the time of day. Consistency (how even your pace is across an entire test, not just your peak burst) and accuracy are better long-term signals of real ability than any one result. HeroTyping tracks both alongside WPM on every results screen for exactly this reason: chasing a single peak number tends to encourage exactly the rushed, error-prone typing that slows you down in practice. If you want to actually move your baseline rather than just your best run, start with how to improve your typing speed — accuracy first, speed follows.
Test yourself
Numbers on a page are easy to skim past. Take a 1-minute typing test under the same conditions a few times (same duration, similar text type) before comparing your result to any of the ranges above — a single test tells you less than a short streak of them. You can also convert your WPM to CPM and KPH to check requirements for specific administrative roles.
Still building up to these ranges? Typing lessons start from the home row, and typing games keep practice time from feeling like a chore.
FAQ
What is a good typing speed overall?
For everyday writing, 40–65 WPM is a comfortable, typical range for adults who type regularly. An extensive study by Dhakal et al. (ACM CHI 2018) of 168,000 online volunteers found an observed sample mean of 52 WPM in a sentence-copying task. While motivated online test-takers often type slightly faster than the general population, it serves as a reliable benchmark. What counts as 'good' ultimately depends on your specific role and accuracy.
Does a good typing speed include accuracy?
It should. A high WPM with frequent uncorrected errors isn't actually a fast typist — it's a fast typist of wrong text. Most typing tests, including HeroTyping's, report net WPM (which already subtracts errors) specifically so the number reflects usable output, not raw hand speed.
Why does my typing speed vary between different tests and sites?
Test length, text difficulty, and whether a site reports gross or net WPM all change the number for the exact same underlying skill. See net WPM vs. gross WPM for the full breakdown of why two legitimate tests can disagree.
Is typing speed more important than accuracy?
No — accuracy is the better predictor of real-world usefulness. A typist who is fast but constantly correcting mistakes usually produces finished text slower than a more accurate typist at a moderate pace, once correction time is counted.
Sources & references
- Dhakal, Feit, Kristensson & Oulasvirta — "Observations on Typing from 136 Million Keystrokes on a Website" (ACM CHI 2018, DOI: 10.1145/3173574.3174220)
- Aalto University User Interfaces Group — 136 Million Keystrokes Project Overview & Publication Page
- University of Cambridge — What makes a faster typist? (Research news summary of the 136M study)
Last reviewed 2026-10-20.
Mukesh is the founder and developer of HeroTyping, building accessible, ad-free typing practice tools and games with evidence-backed training methods.
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