Average Typing Speed: What's Normal and How to Get Faster
Whether you are applying for a job that requires typing, trying to be more productive, or just curious how you compare, knowing the average typing speed gives you useful context. This guide covers typical speeds by age and profession, what counts as "fast," and practical ways to improve.
Average Typing Speeds by the Numbers
Typing speed is measured in words per minute (WPM), where a "word" is standardized as 5 characters (including spaces). Here is how different groups typically perform:
| Group | Average WPM | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| General adult population | 40 | Includes non-regular computer users |
| Office workers | 50-60 | Daily computer use |
| Software developers | 55-70 | Code requires special characters |
| Writers/journalists | 60-80 | High volume of text output |
| Data entry specialists | 65-90 | Speed is a job requirement |
| Professional transcriptionists | 75-100 | Often trained specifically |
| Competitive speed typists | 120-200+ | Top competitors exceed 200 WPM |
Typing Speed by Age
Age is a major factor in typing speed, largely because of experience and the era in which someone learned to use computers:
| Age Group | Typical Range (WPM) |
|---|---|
| Elementary school (8-11) | 15-25 |
| Middle school (12-14) | 25-35 |
| High school (15-18) | 30-45 |
| College age (18-25) | 40-60 |
| Working adults (25-50) | 40-65 |
| Older adults (50+) | 30-50 |
These are generalizations -- individual variation is huge. Plenty of 60-year-olds type at 80 WPM, and plenty of 25-year-olds type at 30 WPM. The biggest factor is not age itself but how much deliberate practice someone has done.
Test Your Typing Speed
Find out exactly how fast you type with our free 60-second typing test. Get your WPM, accuracy, and character breakdown.
Take the Typing TestWhat Counts as a "Good" Typing Speed?
It depends on what you need it for:
- Casual use (email, chat, browsing): 30-40 WPM is fine. Speed is not a bottleneck here.
- Office work: 50-60 WPM with 95%+ accuracy is the sweet spot for most jobs. You can keep up with your thoughts and get through emails efficiently.
- Typing-intensive roles: 65-80 WPM is typically expected for data entry, transcription, and customer support positions.
- Programming: Raw WPM matters less than accuracy and comfort with special characters. Most developers type 55-70 WPM but spend far more time thinking than typing.
- Competitive/bragging rights: Above 100 WPM puts you in the top 1% of typists.
Touch Typing vs. Hunt-and-Peck
The single biggest factor in typing speed is whether you touch type (using all fingers without looking at the keyboard) or hunt-and-peck (looking at the keyboard and using a few fingers).
Hunt-and-peck typists top out around 30-40 WPM because they hit a physical limit -- you can only look, find, and press a key so fast. Touch typists break through this ceiling because their fingers are already on or near every key.
Switching from hunt-and-peck to touch typing feels slow at first. Your speed will drop while you build new muscle memory. Most people take 2-6 weeks of daily practice to match their old speed, and then continue improving well beyond it. It is an investment that pays off permanently.
How to Improve Your Typing Speed
1. Learn proper hand position
Place your fingers on the home row: left hand on A-S-D-F, right hand on J-K-L-;. Your thumbs share the space bar. Each finger is responsible for specific keys. This positioning minimizes finger travel and maximizes speed.
2. Focus on accuracy first, speed second
Errors slow you down more than slow typing does. Every mistake requires you to stop, backspace, and retype. If you are making more than 3-5 errors per test, slow down slightly until your accuracy improves. Speed will follow naturally.
3. Practice with real text, not random letters
Typing actual sentences builds the word-level muscle memory that makes you fast. Your brain starts to recognize common letter patterns (th, ing, tion, ment) and your fingers fire automatically. Random character drills miss this benefit.
4. Practice consistently in short sessions
Fifteen minutes of daily practice is more effective than one two-hour session per week. Muscle memory builds through frequent repetition, not marathon sessions. Set a daily reminder and stick with it for at least 3 weeks.
5. Do not look at the keyboard
This is hard at first, but it is the most important habit to build. Every time you look down, you break your flow and reinforce the hunt-and-peck pattern. If you must, cover the keyboard with a cloth or use blank keycaps.
How WPM Is Measured
Most typing tests use the standard where one "word" equals 5 characters (including spaces). So if you type 250 characters in 60 seconds, your speed is 250 / 5 = 50 WPM. Some tests also report:
- Gross WPM: total characters typed divided by 5, without penalizing errors
- Net WPM: gross WPM minus a penalty for each error (typically 1 WPM per uncorrected error)
- Accuracy: percentage of correctly typed characters
Net WPM is the more meaningful number because it accounts for mistakes. Typing 80 WPM with 85% accuracy is less useful than typing 60 WPM with 99% accuracy.
Test Yourself
Knowing your baseline is the first step to improving. Our free typing speed test gives you your WPM and accuracy score in 60 seconds. Take it a few times to get a consistent reading -- your first attempt is usually slower due to nerves or unfamiliarity with the test format.