Average typing speed: what is a good WPM?
The average typing speed is about 52 words per minute. In the largest published study of typing, 168,960 volunteers copied sentences on their own keyboards and averaged 51.56 WPM. The slowest tenth typed under about 26 WPM, the fastest tenth over about 78, and the very fastest reached 120 WPM or more.
How WPM is counted
A word is five characters, spaces included, both in the study and on our typing test, so the speeds compare directly. The study timed each sentence from the first to the last key press. On average its typists left 1.2% of what they typed wrong after correcting the rest, and the ones who made fewer mistakes were generally faster.
What is a good WPM?
These are our own guide bands for correct WPM, the same ones the typing test uses. They are our own guide, not a scientific scale; the study figures beside them show where real typists fell.
| Band | Correct WPM | In the study |
|---|---|---|
| Warm-up | under 25 | About the slowest tenth of the study's typists (under about 26 WPM). |
| Casual | 25 to 40 | Typing that gets the job done, usually with some looking at the keys. |
| Solid | 40 to 60 | The study's average, 51.6 WPM, sits in this band. |
| Sweaty | 60 to 80 | Faster than most typists; the study's fastest tenth starts at about 78 WPM. |
| Cracked | 80 and up | Faster than about nine in ten of the study's typists. |
Who was in the study
The typists chose to take an online typing test, copied short English sentences they could read ahead, and used their own keyboards. Those who had taken a typing course were about 5 WPM faster on average than those who had not, a small gap next to the 20 WPM spread between typists. A timed test of fresh text, typing in another language or typing on a phone gives different numbers, so compare your own runs on the same test.
Measure and raise yours
Take the typing test for your correct WPM and the keys you miss most, then use how to type faster for practice that raises it. For a quicker game, try the typing word game.
Study: Vivek Dhakal, Anna Maria Feit, Per Ola Kristensson and Antti Oulasvirta (2018), Observations on Typing from 136 Million Keystrokes, CHI '18.