Typing speed statistics
What is the average typing speed?
The short answer is about 40 words per minute for an adult who has never trained, and 50 to 70 WPM for a touch typist. The longer answer depends on the length of the test, the language, and how much accuracy you are willing to trade for speed. Below are the real numbers from tests taken on RapidFinger, alongside the benchmarks people usually want to measure themselves against.
- Average speed
- 23 WPM
- Average accuracy
- 87%
- Fastest recorded
- 76 WPM
- Tests measured
- 712
Figures cover completed typing tests only. Lesson drills, competition entries and game rounds are excluded, as are results flagged as implausible.
How typing speeds are distributed
Each bar is a ten-WPM band. The shape is what matters more than any single average: the bulk of results cluster in the thirties and forties, with a long thin tail of much faster typists.
- 0–9 94
- 10–19 221
- 20–29 223
- 30–39 92
- 40–49 34
- 50–59 44
- 60–69 3
- 70–79 1
- 80–89 0
- 90–99 0
- 100+ 0
12%
of tests reach 40 WPM or faster
1%
of tests reach 60 WPM or faster
0%
of tests reach 80 WPM or faster
Average speed by test length
Short tests flatter you. Over one minute you can sprint on adrenaline; over thirty minutes your real sustainable pace shows through. If you are quoting a number on a CV, the longer tests are the honest ones.
| Test length | Average WPM | Average accuracy | Fastest | Tests taken |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-minute typing test | 23 | 87% | 76 | 640 |
| 3-minute typing test | 21 | 86% | 35 | 24 |
| 5-minute typing test | 19 | 85% | 38 | 29 |
| 10-minute typing test | 17 | 84% | 36 | 18 |
| 20-minute typing test | No results yet | |||
| 30-minute typing test | 22 | 88% | 22 | 1 |
How do you compare?
Find your own score in the table below. These bands are the ones employers, typing courses and certification tests generally work from.
Beginner
Under 20 WPM
Hunting for keys, eyes on the keyboard.
Learner
20 – 30 WPM
Finger positions starting to stick.
Average adult
30 – 40 WPM
Typical for someone who never trained.
Touch typist
40 – 60 WPM
Comfortable for most office work.
Fast
60 – 80 WPM
Typing keeps pace with thinking.
Professional
80 – 100 WPM
Transcription and data entry territory.
Exceptional
100+ WPM
Reached through deliberate daily practice.
What actually changes your WPM
- Whether you look down. Touch typing is the single largest factor. Returning your eyes to the keyboard costs a fraction of a second every few words, and it compounds.
- Corrections, not keystrokes. A typist at 95% accuracy often finishes ahead of one at 99% raw speed, because every backspace costs two movements and breaks rhythm.
- Familiarity with the text. Common English prose types far faster than technical terms, code or unfamiliar names, which is why test results vary between sites.
- The language and script. Character-dense scripts and right-to-left languages produce different numbers from English even at identical skill, because the five-character word definition maps differently.
- Practice that targets weakness. Repeating whole paragraphs plateaus quickly. Drilling the specific rows and keys you fumble is what moves the number.
How we measure it
A word is a fixed five characters, spaces and punctuation included. That convention keeps scores comparable no matter which text you are given or which language you type in.
- Net WPM
- Correctly typed characters ÷ 5 ÷ minutes elapsed. This is the figure we report.
- Raw WPM
- All typed characters ÷ 5 ÷ minutes, mistakes included. Always the higher number.
- Accuracy
- Correct characters as a share of every character you committed, rounded down. One mistake in a paragraph will not show as 100%.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average typing speed?
Most adults type between 30 and 40 words per minute when they have never been trained. Touch typists who use all ten fingers without looking down usually land between 50 and 70 WPM, and professional transcriptionists often exceed 80 WPM.
Is 40 WPM a good typing speed?
40 WPM is right at the average for an untrained typist, so it is a perfectly respectable starting point. It is enough for everyday email and messaging, though most office roles feel noticeably easier once you pass 50 WPM.
How fast should I type to work in data entry?
Most data entry and transcription roles ask for 50 to 70 WPM at 95% accuracy or better. Accuracy matters more than raw speed in these jobs, because corrections cost far more time than a slightly slower pace.
Why is my WPM lower on longer tests?
Fatigue and concentration. A one-minute test lets you sprint, while a ten or thirty minute test exposes how well your technique holds up. A gap of five to ten WPM between short and long tests is completely normal.
How is words per minute calculated?
A word is defined as five characters, including spaces and punctuation. WPM is the number of correctly typed characters divided by five, divided by the minutes elapsed. Because the definition is fixed, scores stay comparable across languages and text samples.
Where do you land?
Averages are only useful once you have your own number to hold against them. A one-minute test is enough to place yourself; the longer tests will tell you what you can actually sustain.