Typing Speed Benchmarks: What WPM is Average vs Good

Words per minute (WPM) measurement: typically a "word" counts as 5 keystrokes (including spaces and punctuation). Average adult typist hits 40 WPM. Office worker: 45-55. Programmer: 50-65 (deliberately slower to think). Professional transcriber: 75-90 sustained. Captioner / court reporter: 180-280 WPM using stenotype machines (not regular keyboards). Top 1% on regular keyboards: 120+ WPM consistently. Net WPM = gross WPM × (1 − error rate); aim for sub-2% errors. Improving typing speed: 1) use all 10 fingers (touch typing); 2) don't look at keys; 3) drill specific weak letter pairs; 4) type real text, not random sequences. Our Typing Speed Test measures both raw and net WPM.