Is My Typing Speed Good? WPM Ratings Explained
The most common question people ask after a typing test: "I type X WPM — is that good?" The short answer depends on three things: your age, your profession, and what you are trying to do with that speed. This guide breaks down every WPM tier from hunt-and-peck beginner to exceptional typist, so you can see exactly where you stand and what it means in practical terms.
WPM Speed Rating Table
Here is how every speed tier is classified, from absolute beginner to world-class. These ranges reflect the distribution seen across millions of typists on public typing test platforms.
Is My Typing Speed Good for My Age?
Typing speed norms change significantly across age groups. A 10-year-old at 20 WPM is doing well for their age. An adult at 20 WPM has significant room for improvement. Here is the full breakdown by age group so you can benchmark yourself fairly.
Is My Typing Speed Good for My Job?
Professional expectations vary widely by role. A software developer at 55 WPM is doing fine; the same speed for a medical transcriptionist would be below the job requirement. Use this table to see where you stand relative to what your profession typically demands.
I Type X WPM — Is That Good?
Here are direct answers to the most common version of this question, for the speeds people actually ask about most:
Is 30 WPM good?
30 WPM is below the adult average of 44 WPM. It is functional for casual email and browsing, but you will feel it when writing longer documents or doing text-heavy work. The good news: 30 WPM is an easy starting point to improve from. With 4–6 weeks of daily 15-minute practice using touch typing, most people at 30 WPM can reach 50–55 WPM.
Is 40 WPM good?
40 WPM is right at the adult average. It is fine for most casual computer use and meets the bare minimum for many office jobs. However, if you spend significant time writing — reports, emails, code, articles — you will benefit from improving. Moving from 40 to 65 WPM is achievable in 2–3 months and makes a noticeable difference in daily productivity.
Is 50 WPM good?
50 WPM is above average for an untrained typist. You are comfortable for most office work. At this speed, typing rarely slows down your thinking unless you are producing a very high volume of text. You are a good candidate for deliberate practice — moving from 50 to 70 WPM requires learning proper touch typing if you haven't already, and typically takes 6–10 weeks of focused effort.
Is 60 WPM good?
60 WPM is solidly good. You type faster than the majority of the population and meet the requirements for almost any office or administrative job. Professional typing tests (for data entry, transcription, legal secretary roles) often set their minimums at 60–70 WPM. At 60 WPM, you should focus on accuracy — many 60 WPM typists have accuracy below 95%, which costs them net WPM in tests.
Is 70 WPM good?
70 WPM is genuinely fast. You are in roughly the top 25% of typists and comfortable in virtually all professional text roles. Many people who reach 70 WPM with 98%+ accuracy consider their typing 'done' — it is fast enough that it never limits their output. If you want to push further, 70–90 WPM is one of the harder plateaus to break, and it typically requires deliberate drilling on your weakest key combinations rather than just more general practice.
Is 80 WPM good?
80 WPM is excellent. You are in the top 15% of all typists and would qualify for virtually any typing-dependent professional role, including medical transcription, legal secretarial work, and competitive data entry. At this speed, you are likely a practiced touch typist with strong muscle memory. The next milestone — 100 WPM — requires moving beyond general practice into targeted drills on specific letter combinations and rhythm work.
How Accuracy Affects Whether Your Speed Is "Good"
Raw WPM only tells part of the story. Net WPM — the number most professional typing tests use — deducts a penalty for each uncorrected error. At 95% accuracy, a 70 WPM typist is actually performing at around 63–65 net WPM. At 99% accuracy, the same typist is at 69+ net WPM.
This is why many hiring managers care more about accuracy than raw speed. A data entry clerk at 75 WPM with 99% accuracy is vastly more productive than one at 90 WPM with 94% accuracy — the high-error typist produces more downstream corrections and mistakes in the final document.
As a practical target: aim for 98% accuracy or above at whatever speed you are working at before trying to push faster. Accuracy-first is the correct order — speed will follow naturally as accuracy habits become automatic.
What Makes a Typing Speed "Good" Change Over Time?
WPM expectations have actually risen over the past two decades. In the 1990s, 35–40 WPM was considered acceptable for most office work. Today, with text-heavy communication apps, live chat customer support, collaborative document editing, and remote-first workplaces, 50–60 WPM has become the new functional baseline for knowledge workers. The rise of coding, where developers type commands, code, and documentation all day, has also pushed average professional speeds up.
The practical implication: if you typed at 45 WPM in 2010 and haven't improved since, you are now below where the average knowledge worker sits. The good news is that 45 WPM to 65 WPM is a realistic 6–8 week improvement with consistent daily practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average typing speed?
The average adult typing speed is approximately 40–44 WPM (words per minute). This is based on studies of general adult populations using standard English prose. Trained touch typists average significantly higher — typically 65–75 WPM — while professional typists in roles like data entry or transcription average 70–100 WPM.
What WPM is considered good for a job?
For general office work, 40–50 WPM is typically sufficient. Administrative and secretary roles often list 60–75 WPM as a minimum in job descriptions. Data entry, transcription, and legal secretary roles commonly require 70–80 WPM with high accuracy. Customer support agents who handle live chat benefit from 60+ WPM to manage multiple conversations simultaneously.
Is 100 WPM fast?
Yes — 100 WPM puts you in the top 5% of all typists. At this speed you are typing roughly 500 characters per minute, which is faster than most people can speak clearly. Reaching and sustaining 100 WPM requires well-developed touch typing technique, strong accuracy (typically 98%+), and years of regular practice. It is impressive by any measure.
Can I improve my typing speed significantly?
Yes. Most people who commit to 15 minutes of deliberate daily practice improve by 15–25 WPM within 30 days. The biggest gains come from switching to full touch typing (using all 10 fingers without looking), which is uncomfortable at first but removes the ceiling that hunt-and-peck imposes at around 40 WPM. Beyond 70 WPM, gains are slower but still achievable with targeted drills.
Does typing speed matter anymore?
Yes, more than ever. While voice input and AI tools have reduced some typing load, text remains the dominant interface for professional communication, coding, writing, and data work. A typist at 80 WPM produces text roughly twice as fast as one at 40 WPM — that compound difference adds up to significant time savings across a career. Accuracy also matters: a fast but inaccurate typist often produces slower net output than a slower but clean typist.
Not sure where you actually stand? Take the free 60-second FastTypings test to get your exact WPM and accuracy score — no signup required.
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