Articles - November 16, 2021 - 1 minute

What Is a Good Typing Speed?

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The average typing speed is around 40 words per minute. To achieve a high level of productivity, aim for 60 to 70 words per minute instead. The following table presents different levels of assessment for an adult.

Targets for an adult Words per minute (wpm) Characters per minute (cpm)
Average speed 40 wpm and over 200 cpm and over
Above average speed 50 wpm and over 250 cpm and over
Productive speed 60 wpm and over 300 cpm and over
High speed 70 wpm and over 350 cpm and over
Competitive speed 120 wpm and over 600 cpm and over

Where do you fall? Take our free typing test to find out!

Which speed target should you set?

The right speed target depends on your age and your goals. And speed isn’t everything when it comes to learning! It is just as important to develop accuracy. This table provides some guidelines to help you set the right goals for training.

Age range Beginner Intermediate Expert
6 to 11 years old 15 wpm
(75 cpm)
80% accuracy
25 wpm
(125 cpm)
85% accuracy
35 wpm
(175 cpm)
90% accuracy
12 to 16 years old 30 wpm
(150 cpm)
85% accuracy
40 wpm
(200 cpm)
90% accuracy
50 wpm
(250 cpm)
95% accuracy
17 years old and over 45 wpm
(225 cpm)
90% accuracy
55 wpm
(275 cpm)
95% accuracy
65 wpm
(325 cpm)
100% accuracy

Do you use Typing Pal at school? See our typing accuracy lesson plan to better instruct your students on the subject.

Do you want to improve your typing speed?

Typing faster means learning how to properly position your hands, use all the fingers, hit the right keys without looking at them and avoiding mistakes. If you don’t fully master at least one of these aspects, you could benefit from typing training.

Typing Pal’s training covers all aspects of good typing technique and offers you a complete and personalized program with hundreds of activities suitable for beginners and advanced users.

Trust our method tested by millions of users to help you achieve your goals. Try it for free!

Learn to type faster!