Average typing speed: what the numbers mean and what counts as good
The average typing speed is about 52 words per minute (WPM), according to a 2018 study of 168,000 volunteers by Aalto University and the University of Cambridge. One word means five characters, spaces included. Anything above that average with few errors is a good typing speed; professionally trained typists usually worked at 60 to 90 WPM, and the fastest people in the study reached about 120.
A typing speed only means something next to two other facts: how WPM is counted and how many mistakes came with it. This guide puts the common figures in plain words, explains the arithmetic, and ends with a one-minute way to find your own number.
Key ideas
- The 2018 study average is about 52 WPM; its fastest typists reached about 120 WPM.
- One word is five characters, spaces and punctuation included, so 50 WPM equals 250 characters a minute.
- Speed without accuracy is misleading: read both numbers together and fix accuracy first.
- Speed usually falls when you switch to touch typing, then rises again with regular practice.
Typing speed bands in plain words
Studies test different people on different texts, so treat the figures as bands, not as one cut-off. An older study of computer users, cited in the encyclopedia entry on words per minute, measured 32.5 WPM on average when people copied text and 19 WPM when they composed it. The 2018 online study used random sentences nobody could rehearse and found an average typing speed of about 52 WPM.
In plain words: below 30 WPM is slower than both averages, 30 to 50 is typical for everyday computer use, around 50 to 60 is the measured average, 60 to 90 matches what professionally trained typists usually reached in the 1970s and 1980s, and 120 WPM sits at the very top of the 2018 sample.
So what is a good typing speed? For most people, anything comfortably above the average with few errors. Career typists can exceed 100 WPM, but a steady 60 is already above the measured average.
How WPM is counted, and why accuracy belongs next to it
For typing, a word is standardised as five characters or keystrokes, spaces and punctuation included. A test counts the characters typed in the time, divides by five and scales the result to one minute. Thirty seconds that produce 125 characters give 25 words, which is 50 WPM.
Characters per minute (CPM) skips the division: 50 WPM equals 250 CPM. Because the five-character rule ignores real word length, a text of long words and a text of short words give comparable results.
Accuracy is the share of characters typed correctly. A result of 70 WPM at 85% accuracy means about one character in seven was wrong, and each one has to be found and fixed later. The 2018 study also found that faster typists tended to make fewer errors, so speed and accuracy usually grow together.
Why speed drops when you learn touch typing
Touch typing means finding keys by position, with the eyes on the screen. At first it is slower than the hunt-and-peck habit it replaces; the encyclopedia entry on touch typing notes that speed commonly plummets at the beginning. The drop is expected and does not mean the method has failed.
Speed then returns gradually with practice, and 60 WPM or more is achievable. The 2018 study adds a useful detail: some self-taught typists using fewer than ten fingers were as fast as trained touch typists, and the fastest people pressed the next key before releasing the previous one in 40 to 70% of keystrokes.
Measure your own typing speed
The free typing speed test at VITON13 SCHOOL runs for one minute and reports words per minute, characters per minute and accuracy. It covers English and Spanish QWERTY, French AZERTY and Russian layouts, needs no account, and keeps results in your browser.
Take it once now for a baseline, then once a week under the same conditions, and compare WPM and accuracy together rather than speed alone.
In everyday language
Typing speed is like a running pace: the pace only counts if you stay on the route. WPM is the pace, and accuracy tells you whether you stayed on the course.
Try it yourself
Open the typing speed test, choose your keyboard layout, and type for one minute without looking down at the keys.
Expected result
A result with three numbers: words per minute, characters per minute and accuracy as a percentage.
Check your answer: A result shows 240 characters per minute. What is that speed in words per minute?
48 WPM, because one word counts as five characters and 240 divided by 5 is 48. That is just below the 2018 study average of about 52 WPM.
Questions
Is 40 WPM a good typing speed?
It sits in the typical range for everyday computer users and slightly below the 2018 study average of about 52 WPM. With high accuracy it is a solid base, and regular practice is what moves it up.
Should mistakes change how I read my WPM?
Yes. A fast result with low accuracy overstates useful speed, because every error costs time to correct. Look at WPM and accuracy as one pair.
Take the one-minute VITON13 SCHOOL typing speed test now, write down WPM and accuracy, and repeat it weekly to see real progress.
Sources and further reading
- University of Cambridge: What makes a faster typist? (2018 study of 136 million keystrokes) ↗Sources checked:
- Wikipedia: Words per minute ↗Sources checked:
- Wikipedia: Touch typing ↗Sources checked: