WPM Test — Words Per Minute
Measure your words per minute in a 1-minute test, or pick 15, 30, or 120 seconds.
Tap or click here, then start typing
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Average Typing Speed
| Group (168,960 typists) | Average WPM |
|---|---|
| Everyone in the study | 51.6 |
| Slowest 10% (under about 26 WPM) | 20.9 |
| Fastest 10% (over about 78 WPM) | 89.6 |
| Took a typing course | 54.4 |
| No typing course | 49.0 |
Source: Dhakal et al., “Observations on Typing from 136 Million Keystrokes” (CHI 2018), Table 3. Volunteers typed English sentences on keyboards; phone typing is usually slower. Your result’s percentile is estimated from the same study.
How WPM Is Calculated
Industry standard: 1 word = 5 characters, including the spaces between words. This test counts the characters you typed correctly (each finished word plus its space, and the correct part of the word you are on when time runs out), divides by 5, then divides by the minutes elapsed. Mistyped characters earn nothing, so errors lower your score. It uses the same scoring as our Typing Test.
Tips to Improve Your Typing Speed
- Learn touch typing — home row (ASDF JKL;) and correct finger placement
- Focus on accuracy first; speed follows naturally
- Practice daily — even 10–15 minutes makes a measurable difference
- Use proper posture: feet flat, wrists level, elbows at 90°
- Don't look at the keyboard — trust muscle memory
Use our Typing Practice tool for structured improvement with weak-key tracking.
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When to use this
You want a quick, no-nonsense speed check. This is a 60-second sprint — start typing and get your WPM when the clock runs out. No settings to fiddle with, no modes to choose. Just you, a passage, and one minute on the clock.
Use it to benchmark yourself before and after a practice session, to settle a friendly bet about who types faster, or to check whether you hit the WPM requirement for a job posting. The 60-second format is the industry standard for typing speed assessments — it is long enough to be meaningful but short enough that you can take it three times in a row and track your improvement.
It is also a surprisingly effective warm-up. Take one WPM test before a long writing session and your fingers will be primed for the next hour. Think of it as stretching before a run.
Good to know
Only correct characters count. Raw speed counts everything you typed. This test counts only the characters you typed correctly, including the spaces between words, so mistakes lower your score. It reflects how much correct text you actually produce — which is what employers, schools, and certification exams care about.
One word = 5 characters. This is not arbitrary. The 5-character standard (including spaces) normalizes scores across different texts. Typing "I am" counts the same as typing "comp" because both are 4 characters toward the next "word." This means your score is comparable regardless of whether the passage uses short or long words.
Your first test of the day is not your real speed. Cold fingers, cold brain. Most typists are 10-15% slower on their first attempt than their third. If you are testing for a job application, do two warm-up rounds first and submit the third.
Plateau? Change your practice, not your effort. If you have been stuck at the same WPM for weeks, you are probably practicing what you are already good at. Target your weak spots: words with uncommon letter pairs (like "rhythm" or "queue"), numbers and punctuation, or capital letters. Deliberate practice on weaknesses breaks plateaus faster than grinding more of the same.
Quick Reference
| WPM | What it means | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Under 30 | Below average | Likely a hunt-and-peck typist — learning touch typing would unlock major gains |
| 30-45 | Average | Typical adult speed, enough for casual use |
| 45-60 | Above average | Standard office worker range, meets most job requirements |
| 60-80 | Fast | Programmer, writer, or experienced office worker |
| 80-100 | Professional | Transcriptionist, court reporter trainee, data entry specialist |
| 100-120 | Elite | Competitive typist or highly experienced professional |
| 120+ | Exceptional | Competition-level speed, top 1% of all typists worldwide |