Average typing speed by age and profession

Updated October 2026 · TapTest guides

Almost everyone who takes a typing test wants to know the same thing afterwards: is my score any good? The honest answer depends on who you are comparing yourself with, because typing speed varies a lot by age, by how much someone types for a living, and by whether they ever learned to touch type. This guide puts the usual numbers in context so your result actually means something.

Speed is measured in words per minute, or WPM, where a "word" is standardised as five characters including spaces, so the measure is fair regardless of how long the actual words are. The figure that really matters is net WPM, which subtracts your mistakes, because raw speed with lots of errors is not useful speed. You can measure both on our typing test.

The general average

For an adult typing on a full keyboard, the commonly cited average sits around 40 words per minute. That figure describes someone comfortable with a keyboard who never formally learned touch typing and still glances down at their hands. It is a perfectly serviceable speed for everyday work, and it is where most people land without any deliberate practice.

Above that, the bands look roughly like this. Reaching 50 to 60 WPM puts you ahead of the average and usually reflects some touch typing ability. Breaking 70 WPM is genuinely quick and tends to require typing a great deal or practising on purpose. Passing 90 to 100 WPM is fast by any measure, the territory of people whose job is built around the keyboard. Competitive typists and the fastest professionals push well beyond that, into 120 WPM and higher, but those figures are outliers rather than targets.

How age shapes typing speed

Age matters, though not always in the direction people assume. Children and young teenagers who are still learning tend to type more slowly, often in the 20 to 40 WPM range, because the skill is still forming. Speed usually climbs through the late teens and twenties as keyboard use becomes second nature. It tends to peak and plateau through the working adult years, when most people type daily, and it can ease gently later in life.

There is a wrinkle worth naming. Younger people today often grew up typing on phones rather than keyboards, so a teenager might be lightning fast on a touchscreen and only average on a physical keyboard. Phone thumb-typing and keyboard touch typing are different skills, and being quick at one does not guarantee being quick at the other.

Typing speed by profession

What you do for work is a strong predictor, mostly because it decides how much you type and whether speed was ever trained. A few rough pictures:

People in roles built around transcription or data entry, such as medical transcriptionists and court reporters, are the fastest group. Many work comfortably above 90 WPM, and some well beyond, often using specialised techniques or equipment.
Administrative and secretarial staff, who type throughout the day, commonly land in the 60 to 80 WPM range.
Programmers and writers vary more than expected. They type constantly but often in bursts broken by thinking, and raw speed matters less to them than accuracy and comfort over long sessions, so many sit in a respectable 50 to 70 WPM band without needing more.
People whose jobs do not centre on typing tend to track the general average of around 40 WPM, which is entirely fine for their needs.

The lesson is that the "right" speed is the one that keeps up with your thoughts and your work without causing strain. A novelist does not need court-reporter speed, and chasing a number that your work does not require is effort better spent elsewhere.

Accuracy matters more than the headline number

It is tempting to fixate on raw WPM, but accuracy is what makes speed worthwhile. Typing 80 words a minute while making a mistake every other line produces slow, frustrating work once you count the time spent correcting. A slightly lower speed with high accuracy almost always beats a higher speed riddled with errors. When you test yourself, treat your error count as seriously as your WPM, and aim to keep accuracy comfortably above 95 percent before you push for more speed.

Can you improve, and by how much?

Yes, and often substantially. The single biggest jump for most people comes from learning to touch type, which means typing without looking at the keys, using all your fingers from a consistent home position. Someone who moves from hunt and peck to proper touch typing can realistically double their speed over a few months of regular practice. Beyond that, gains come more slowly and depend on consistent, deliberate practice rather than occasional sprints. Our guide to the typing speed test covers how to practise effectively and what a good target looks like for you.

How to measure yourself fairly

To get a number you can trust, test yourself more than once and under normal conditions, not after ten warm-up runs on the same passage. Use fresh text each time so you are typing, not reciting, and note your net WPM and accuracy together. Our typing test offers timed runs and tracks your personal best, so you can watch real progress over weeks rather than reading too much into a single lucky or unlucky attempt.

Common questions

What is a good typing speed? Anything above the roughly 40 WPM average is solid. Around 60 to 70 WPM is quick and comfortable for almost any job, and beyond that is a bonus rather than a necessity for most people.

Is 40 WPM slow? No, it is average for an adult. It is a practical, everyday speed. There is plenty of room to grow if you want to, but it is not something to feel bad about.

Why am I faster on my phone than a keyboard? Thumb typing on a touchscreen and touch typing on a keyboard are separate skills. Many younger people have practised the phone far more, so their keyboard speed lags behind.

Does typing speed decline with age? It can ease gently in later life, but regular keyboard use keeps it strong, and a trained touch typist holds their speed far better than someone who never learned.