What Is a Good Typing Speed? Real WPM Benchmarks
"Good" depends entirely on who is asking. Forty WPM is comfortable for writing emails. Eighty WPM makes you noticeably faster than most colleagues. This guide breaks down what the numbers actually mean — by experience level, by job, and against the people around you.
The short answer
- Under 30 WPM — beginner. You are still hunting for keys. Learning proper finger placement is worth more than any amount of raw practice at this stage.
- 30–45 WPM — average. This is where most adults who type daily but never learned touch typing land.
- 45–65 WPM — solid. Fast enough for virtually any office job, and comfortably above average.
- 65–85 WPM — fast. Typical of people who touch type and work with text all day: writers, editors, developers, support staff.
- 85–110 WPM — very fast. Roughly the top 5–10% of regular typists.
- 110+ WPM — elite. Competitive territory.
Average typing speed by experience
| Profile | Typical WPM | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hunt-and-peck typist | 20–35 | Looking at the keyboard is the limiting factor |
| Casual computer user | 35–45 | Types daily, never formally trained |
| Taught touch typing at school | 45–65 | Correct technique, limited deliberate practice |
| Text-heavy professional | 65–90 | Years of daily volume |
| Deliberate practiser | 90–130 | Trains with feedback and accuracy targets |
| Competitive speed typist | 150–220 | Specialised training, often on prepared text |
What employers actually ask for
Most job ads that mention typing at all ask for 50–65 WPM with high accuracy. The roles that genuinely test speed tend to be administrative, data entry, customer support and transcription work. Transcription roles usually want 70 WPM or better; live captioning and court reporting are in a different league entirely and use specialist equipment.
Software engineering, design, management and most knowledge-work roles almost never test typing speed. Being fast helps you get thoughts down quickly, but nobody is measuring it.
Worth knowing: employers care about accuracy at least as much as speed. A 90 WPM typist at 92% accuracy produces more rework than a 65 WPM typist at 99%.
Why your score varies between tests
If your results jump around by 10 WPM, that is normal, not a measurement error. Four things move the number:
- Text difficulty. Common words are much faster than proper nouns, numbers or punctuation-heavy prose.
- Test length. Short 15-second tests are noisy; a 60-second test is a far better estimate of your real speed.
- Warm-up. Cold hands cost several WPM. Your second test of a session is usually your best.
- Keyboard and posture. A laptop keyboard, a split ergonomic board and a mechanical switch all produce slightly different numbers.
Compare like with like: same duration, same text type, same keyboard, and look at a rolling average rather than any single result. Our WPM calculation guide explains exactly what the raw number measures.
How to work out whether you should care
Ask what typing speed costs you today. If you write for a living, or you regularly lose an hour a day to typing, then going from 45 to 75 WPM genuinely gives you time back — and it is one of the easiest skills to improve, because the feedback loop is immediate and measurable.
If you type a few emails a day and nothing else, 45 WPM is already plenty, and your practice time is better spent elsewhere.
How to move up a band
Jumping from 35 to 55 WPM is mostly about technique: stop looking at the keyboard and use all ten fingers. Going from 55 to 75 is about volume and cleaning up your weakest keys. Past 85, progress comes from targeted drilling on specific letter combinations and common words. Our how to type faster guide lays out the drills and a four-week plan, and the touch typing guide covers the hand placement to start from.
Find out where you stand
Run a 60-second test on common words for a clean baseline, then check it again in four weeks. Nimtype saves your personal bests so you can see the change.
Test your typing speed →Frequently asked questions
Is 40 WPM a good typing speed?
40 WPM is around the average for an adult who types regularly but never learned touch typing. It is fine for everyday computer use, but data-entry and administrative roles typically ask for 60 WPM or more.
What typing speed do employers require?
Most office and administrative positions that list a typing requirement ask for 50 to 65 WPM with high accuracy. Transcription and court-reporting roles ask for considerably more, and programmers are rarely tested at all.
Is 100 WPM fast?
Yes. Around 100 WPM puts you in roughly the top few percent of typists. Competitive speed typists exceed 150 to 200 WPM, but those speeds come from years of specialised practice.