What Is a Good Typing Speed? WPM Benchmarks by Skill Level

WPM benchmarks by experience level

A large online study of about 168,000 volunteers (Dhakal et al., CHI 2018, Aalto University and University of Cambridge) reported an average of roughly 52 WPM on copy-typing tasks. Volunteers were self-selected, so this is not a universal average. The bands below are informal rules of thumb, not measured statistics; results vary with text difficulty, keyboard familiarity and fatigue.

• Beginner (just learning touch typing): 10–25 WPM. Expect this for the first few weeks; the goal here is accuracy and correct finger placement, not speed.
• Casual typist: often somewhere in the 30s–40s WPM. Many people who never learned touch typing settle at a comfortable speed here, but this is a rough guide.
• Proficient: roughly 50–70 WPM, common among people who type daily.
• Advanced: roughly 70–90 WPM, usually from dedicated touch-typing practice.
• Competitive / elite: 100–130+ WPM with 97%+ accuracy. This is a genuinely trained skill, usually built over months of deliberate practice, not something that happens by accident.

Accuracy changes what a WPM number means

80 WPM at 90% accuracy is not actually faster in any way that matters than 65 WPM at 99% accuracy — the first typist will spend noticeable time going back to fix errors, which eats into the effective speed. When you compare your score to a benchmark, always look at the accuracy percentage next to it, not the WPM in isolation.

The benchmark that actually matters: your own history

Global benchmarks are useful for a rough sense of where you stand, but the number that should drive your practice is your own trend over the last few weeks. A steady climb from 38 to 44 WPM at stable accuracy is a much stronger signal of real progress than a single lucky 60 WPM test followed by a string of 35s.