What Is a Good Typing Speed? What Large-Scale Data Shows
There is no official line between a good and a bad typing speed, but there is good data on where people actually land. In the largest typing study we know of, 168,960 volunteers averaged 51.56 WPM. The fastest tenth typed above roughly 78 WPM and the slowest tenth below roughly 26 WPM. So about 50 WPM is typical for people who take typing tests, 70 to 80 is fast, and below about 25 is slow.
Speed is only half the answer. Errors cost time to fix and credibility when they slip through, so a good score is a fast one that stays accurate. This guide explains what the data does and does not say, how to read your own result, and what jobs usually ask for.
What the biggest study found
In 2018, researchers at Aalto University and the University of Cambridge published Observations on Typing from 136 Million Keystrokes (Dhakal, Feit, Kristensson and Oulasvirta, CHI 2018). Volunteers copied 15 English sentences on a keyboard, and the researchers measured how fast and how accurately they typed. Their reported figures:
- The average speed was 51.56 WPM, with a standard deviation of 20.2.
- The fastest 10% typed above about 78 WPM. The slowest 10% typed below about 26 WPM.
- The fastest typists in the data reached 120 WPM or more.
- The average uncorrected error rate was 1.167%.
- Participants who reported formal typing training were on average about 5 WPM faster than those who did not, and left slightly fewer errors uncorrected (1.02% against 1.23%). The authors describe the difference as small.
- Faster typists generally made fewer errors.
How to read those numbers
These figures are the best public benchmark, but they come with limits that matter when you compare yourself:
- The volunteers chose to take a typing test. They were recruited from the users of a company that offers online typing courses and tests, and were mainly teenagers and young adults (75% were aged 11 to 30), with about two thirds from the United States. People who enjoy typing tests are probably faster than people in general, so the true average for everyone is likely lower than 51.56.
- It was copying, not composing. Typing sentences you have just read is faster than typing your own thoughts. A 1999 study by Karat and colleagues, as summarised in Wikipedia's Words per minute article, found an average of 32.5 WPM for transcription and 19.0 WPM for composition among ordinary computer users.
- Speed was measured within each sentence, from the first to the last keypress, so pauses before you start a sentence are not counted. Real writing has many more pauses.
The takeaway is that a test score is a measure of your keyboard skill when you are copying text. It is not the speed at which you will produce an email or an essay.
The FreeTyper speed bands
To make a result easier to read, the FreeTyper speed test puts a label on your net WPM. These bands are our own shorthand, not an official standard:
| Net WPM | Label | Compared with the study |
|---|---|---|
| Under 40 | Beginner | Below the study average |
| 40–59 | Average | Contains the study average of 51.56 |
| 60–79 | Skilled | Above average, just below the fastest tenth |
| 80–99 | Pro | Within the fastest tenth of the study |
| 100 and above | Elite | Well inside the fastest tenth |
The last column is only a rough guide, because the study measured different text under different conditions.
What speed do jobs need?
It depends on the employer and the role, and the honest answer is to read the job posting. For general orientation, Wikipedia's Words per minute article reports that professional typists type at 43 to 80 WPM, that some positions require 80 to 95 WPM (typically the minimum for dispatch and other time-sensitive typing jobs), and that some advanced typists exceed 120 WPM.
When a posting names a number, ask three questions: whether it means net or gross WPM, whether corrections are allowed, and what accuracy minimum applies. FreeTyper reports net WPM, which counts only correct characters, and shows gross WPM beside it. For test-specific advice, see our guide to data entry typing tests.
Accuracy matters as much as speed
In the same study, typists who were faster also tended to be more accurate, and slower typists left more errors uncorrected, which the authors suggest may mean they are less able to spot their own mistakes. So chasing speed at the cost of accuracy is not how fast typists got there. The FreeTyper coach reflects this: below 95% accuracy it tells you to hold accuracy before chasing speed, and below 88% it calls the run not a real score. If accuracy is your weak point, read how to improve typing accuracy.
What about age?
You will find many "typing speed by age" tables online. We looked for reliable data to build one and did not find a source that shows how its figures were measured, so we do not publish an age table. The study above had mostly young participants and does not give a trustworthy breakdown by age in the figures we checked. If you are older or younger than the typical typist, use the labels above as a rough guide and track your own progress instead.
How to find your own number
- Take at least three runs of the same length, using the same text type, and use the middle result.
- Use runs of a minute or more. Very short tests are dominated by your first few words.
- Compare like with like. Word lists, sentences and code give different scores for the same person.
- Read accuracy before speed. A fast run with many errors is not a good score.
How to get faster
Most of the gain comes from clean, regular practice and good finger habits. The typing lessons teach the keys in order, typing practice gives you volume and drills your weak keys, and our post on how to type faster covers technique in detail.
Sources
- Dhakal V, Feit AM, Kristensson PO, Oulasvirta A. Observations on Typing from 136 Million Keystrokes. CHI 2018. Figures for average speed, percentile speeds, error rate and training effect are taken from the paper's results.
- Wikipedia, Words per minute: the five-characters-per-word convention, the Karat et al. 1999 transcription and composition averages, and the professional and job-related speed ranges.
- The FreeTyper speed bands and the 95% and 88% accuracy thresholds are our own, as described in the typing speed test guide.
Written by Ashiqur Rahman. Figures attributed to a source were checked against that source. If you spot something wrong, tell me and I will correct it.