The short answer
Most people type between 35 and 50 WPM on a physical keyboard. The figure quoted most often is about 40 WPM. A large 2018 study by Aalto University, based on roughly 168,000 volunteers who took an online typing test, measured an average of about 52 WPM; because people who choose to take a typing test tend to type more than average, the true population average is likely a bit lower. The same research group later measured about 36 WPM on smartphones.
So if you type 40 WPM you are normal, 60 WPM is clearly above average, and 80 WPM or more is fast by any standard. Take the test on this page to see where you stand: a one minute run is enough for a first number, three runs give a fair average.
Try it here: Typing Speed Test
Open the full tool pageTyping speed chart by level
These ranges are for typing ordinary prose on a computer keyboard, with high accuracy. Short bursts on easy words give higher numbers, real documents with capitals, numbers and punctuation give lower ones.
| Level | Net WPM | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | under 25 | Looks at the keyboard, types with a few fingers |
| Below average | 25 to 35 | Hunt and peck or early touch typing |
| Average | 35 to 50 | Most adults, enough for email and chat |
| Good | 50 to 70 | Comfortable for office work and writing |
| Fast | 70 to 90 | Faster than about nine in ten people |
| Very fast | 90 to 120 | Experienced touch typists, transcription |
| Elite | over 120 | Competition level, sustained over minutes |
How WPM is calculated
Because real words have different lengths, typing tests use a standard word of five characters, spaces and punctuation included. If you type 250 characters in one minute, that is 50 WPM, whether the text was full of short or long words. This makes results comparable between texts and between languages with longer words, such as German or Turkish.
Gross or raw WPM counts every character you typed, right or wrong. Net WPM counts only correct work. The traditional formula subtracts one word per minute for every uncorrected error; the test on this page is stricter and simply counts the characters of correctly typed words. Accuracy is the share of keystrokes that were right the first time, so a typo you fix still counts against your accuracy, even though it no longer lowers your net WPM.
In the result you see WPM (net), Raw WPM, accuracy, the time and a character breakdown (correct, wrong, extra and missed). The chart shows both lines over the whole test; the closer they are, the fewer mistakes you made.
Accuracy vs speed
A fast but sloppy typist is slower in real life than the raw number suggests, because every mistake costs a backspace, a correction and a broken rhythm. As a rule of thumb, keep accuracy at 95 percent or higher. Above that, speed grows naturally with practice. Below it, slow down until accuracy recovers, then speed up again.
Many employers state requirements as speed plus accuracy, for example 40 WPM at 95 percent or 50 WPM with no more than a few errors. The test here saves your personal best per duration and word language, but only for runs with at least 80 percent accuracy, so a lucky burst full of typos does not become your record.
Typing speed for jobs
Exact requirements vary by employer and country, so treat these as typical ranges seen in job ads rather than fixed rules.
- Keystrokes per hour (KPH) is common for data entry because the work is numbers and short fields. 10,000 KPH is about 33 WPM in standard words.
- Five minute tests are typical for formal certificates, so check that you can keep your speed for that long, not only for one minute.
| Role | Typical requirement |
|---|---|
| General office, customer service | 35 to 45 WPM |
| Administrative assistant, secretary | 50 to 70 WPM |
| Data entry | Often given in keystrokes per hour, roughly 8,000 to 12,000 |
| Transcription, captioning | 60 to 80 WPM or more, high accuracy |
| Court reporter (stenotype machine) | 225 WPM on a steno machine, not a normal keyboard |
Why your score changes from test to test
- Test length: a 15 second sprint is usually 10 to 20 percent faster than a 5 minute test, because fatigue and rare words even out over time.
- Text: common words are faster than rare ones. Turning on Punctuation and Numbers adds Shift presses and number row reaches, which lowers WPM.
- Language and layout: typing in a language you do not write daily, or on an unfamiliar layout, can cost a third of your speed.
- Keyboard: a phone keyboard, a laptop with short key travel or a new mechanical keyboard all change your number.
- Warm up: the first run of the day is often the slowest.
How to type faster
The biggest jump comes from touch typing: using all ten fingers without looking at the keys. People who hunt and peck often plateau around 30 to 40 WPM, while touch typists keep improving. Learning takes a few weeks of 15 minutes a day, and for a short while you will be slower than before.
After that, practice in short, regular sessions. Test with a one minute run, then practice for ten minutes at a speed where you stay above 95 percent accuracy. Keep your eyes on the text, not on your hands, and keep a steady rhythm instead of rushing easy words and stalling on hard ones. Check your progress once a week with the same duration and language, so the numbers are comparable.