April 23, 2026
What Is a Good Typing Speed?
Understanding typing speed benchmarks and how to improve yours
Have you ever wondered what your typing speed is?
Typing Speed Matters
We live in a generation where screens are ubiquitous; regardless of the job you choose, be it in computer science, medicine, art, or even social work, you will eventually need to open your laptop and type. The typing you do will vary, of course; some may just require a few mandatory emails and Slack messages, while others need to draft large-scale manuscripts and strategy plans.
Regardless of your profession, your typing speed can either contribute positively or negatively to your life. is imperative in a digitally powered world. Research shows that even Gen Z isn't paying much attention to their typing skills. Brooke Kato's article in the New York Post asserts that young people are losing their typing skills due to their familiarity with touchscreens.
Even pop singer Billie Eilish, in her interview for Rolling Stone, mentioned that she never learned to type, and now she regrets it, citing that her parents did not stress the importance or teach her. Kato's article raises legitimate concerns and concludes by saying that those who know how to type well are part of an "exclusive and shrinking club.".
Average Typing Speed
Upon further research, this does feel like a super exclusive club, a secret for productivity and flow that no one is revealing. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth averages at 120 WPM, which is significantly higher than the global average of 40 WPM. Mark Zuckerberg himself had an impressive speed at around 100 WPM. These successful people seemed to have a deeper grasp on practice than the average man, realizing its often overlooked value.
The irony is that joining this club is not as daunting or intimidating, as it is often portrayed, it just requires a bit of consistent practice.
Typical Typing Speeds
Let's quickly break down the speed categories: The average typing speed is around 40 to 50 WPM (words per minute), which is not bad, though most coders or professional writers, those who rely on writing on a regular basis, type at the speed range of about 60 to 80 WPM; those trained for typing fast can even exceed 100 WPM.
Please remember that accuracy also matters, yes, making constant mistakes does bring you down, but having around 75% accuracy will more than just suffice. With an accuracy rate like that, the rest of your errors can be fixed by a quick spellcheck that is often embedded within your computer systems, and you can handle most tasks effectively.
The average person who types at about 40 WPM typically glances down at the keyboard multiple times during writing sessions, correcting the mistakes they made, slowing down their work process, and rapidly redirecting their focus to figure out where the appropriate keys are located. It may seem normal, but this typing discomfort bleeds into the quality of their work.
WPM and CPM
But how is this speed calculated? Well, words per minute is counted as the individual's ability to write one word as five characters, including punctuation and accounting for spaces. It is important to know that there is also CPM (characters per minute), which, as suggested, accounts for the total number of characters you type each minute. To achieve a typing speed of 40 WPM, an individual must type 200 characters in one minute; dividing 200 by 5 will yield a score of 40 words per minute.
What Is a Good WPM?
Remember, you don't need to chase perfection, just improvement. Think about it when messaging your colleagues, writing emails, or prompting AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT, you really don't need punctuation. These systems are built to enable you to reach that goal with minimal effort. Even as a journalist, my initial draft looks messy and scrambled, but it doesn't necessarily matter because that stage is primarily allocated for brainstorming, and edits are made later on. In some cases precision will matter more, such as when typing code or translating. This phenomenon just goes to show that typing is not objective, it's subjective and varies based on your goals and what you need to accomplish
How to Improve Typing Speed
Don't be discouraged. Typing should be fun and rewarding, even if you're not as fast as you'd like. The journey doesn't take hours of discipline but just a small commitment of five to fifteen minutes a day. Instead of scrolling on social media, invest in yourself by spending that time on your typing skills. Platforms like type quicker make the learning process stress-free with smart practice, targeted drills, and more.
If you have subscribed to basic typing platforms, ask yourself, how many times are you going to be typing "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"? Repeatedly typing the same phrase does not effectively improve your typing speed. Most platforms give you basic plans that don't address your specific needs. You need to be utilizing a platform that helps you recognize weaknesses and improve them quickly.
Type Quicker personalizes the experience, featuring quotes from your favourite books and movies or even your homework to help you develop practical skills! Regardless of your current typing speed, you can improve significantly with just a small amount of consistent practice. Through learning to type, you're giving yourself the gift of flow, being satisfied and timely with your work. You can unleash your creativity without constantly glancing down or clicking on spellcheck. Typing faster will make your experience of work liberating and more joyful rather than mundane and tedious. The best part is that you will start to notice results in months or even weeks. One Reddit user commented, saying it just took three weeks for them to go from 20 WPM, which is below the average typing speed, to around 87 WPM, imagine what you could do!
April 23, 2026
What Is a Good Typing Speed?
Understanding typing speed benchmarks and how to improve yours
Have you ever wondered what your typing speed is?
Typing Speed Matters
We live in a generation where screens are ubiquitous; regardless of the job you choose, be it in computer science, medicine, art, or even social work, you will eventually need to open your laptop and type. The typing you do will vary, of course; some may just require a few mandatory emails and Slack messages, while others need to draft large-scale manuscripts and strategy plans.
Regardless of your profession, your typing speed can either contribute positively or negatively to your life. is imperative in a digitally powered world. Research shows that even Gen Z isn't paying much attention to their typing skills. Brooke Kato's article in the New York Post asserts that young people are losing their typing skills due to their familiarity with touchscreens.
Even pop singer Billie Eilish, in her interview for Rolling Stone, mentioned that she never learned to type, and now she regrets it, citing that her parents did not stress the importance or teach her. Kato's article raises legitimate concerns and concludes by saying that those who know how to type well are part of an "exclusive and shrinking club.".
Average Typing Speed
Upon further research, this does feel like a super exclusive club, a secret for productivity and flow that no one is revealing. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth averages at 120 WPM, which is significantly higher than the global average of 40 WPM. Mark Zuckerberg himself had an impressive speed at around 100 WPM. These successful people seemed to have a deeper grasp on practice than the average man, realizing its often overlooked value.
The irony is that joining this club is not as daunting or intimidating, as it is often portrayed, it just requires a bit of consistent practice.
Typical Typing Speeds
Let's quickly break down the speed categories: The average typing speed is around 40 to 50 WPM (words per minute), which is not bad, though most coders or professional writers, those who rely on writing on a regular basis, type at the speed range of about 60 to 80 WPM; those trained for typing fast can even exceed 100 WPM.
Please remember that accuracy also matters, yes, making constant mistakes does bring you down, but having around 75% accuracy will more than just suffice. With an accuracy rate like that, the rest of your errors can be fixed by a quick spellcheck that is often embedded within your computer systems, and you can handle most tasks effectively.
The average person who types at about 40 WPM typically glances down at the keyboard multiple times during writing sessions, correcting the mistakes they made, slowing down their work process, and rapidly redirecting their focus to figure out where the appropriate keys are located. It may seem normal, but this typing discomfort bleeds into the quality of their work.
WPM and CPM
But how is this speed calculated? Well, words per minute is counted as the individual's ability to write one word as five characters, including punctuation and accounting for spaces. It is important to know that there is also CPM (characters per minute), which, as suggested, accounts for the total number of characters you type each minute. To achieve a typing speed of 40 WPM, an individual must type 200 characters in one minute; dividing 200 by 5 will yield a score of 40 words per minute.
What Is a Good WPM?
Remember, you don't need to chase perfection, just improvement. Think about it when messaging your colleagues, writing emails, or prompting AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT, you really don't need punctuation. These systems are built to enable you to reach that goal with minimal effort. Even as a journalist, my initial draft looks messy and scrambled, but it doesn't necessarily matter because that stage is primarily allocated for brainstorming, and edits are made later on. In some cases precision will matter more, such as when typing code or translating. This phenomenon just goes to show that typing is not objective, it's subjective and varies based on your goals and what you need to accomplish
How to Improve Typing Speed
Don't be discouraged. Typing should be fun and rewarding, even if you're not as fast as you'd like. The journey doesn't take hours of discipline but just a small commitment of five to fifteen minutes a day. Instead of scrolling on social media, invest in yourself by spending that time on your typing skills. Platforms like type quicker make the learning process stress-free with smart practice, targeted drills, and more.
If you have subscribed to basic typing platforms, ask yourself, how many times are you going to be typing "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"? Repeatedly typing the same phrase does not effectively improve your typing speed. Most platforms give you basic plans that don't address your specific needs. You need to be utilizing a platform that helps you recognize weaknesses and improve them quickly.
Type Quicker personalizes the experience, featuring quotes from your favourite books and movies or even your homework to help you develop practical skills! Regardless of your current typing speed, you can improve significantly with just a small amount of consistent practice. Through learning to type, you're giving yourself the gift of flow, being satisfied and timely with your work. You can unleash your creativity without constantly glancing down or clicking on spellcheck. Typing faster will make your experience of work liberating and more joyful rather than mundane and tedious. The best part is that you will start to notice results in months or even weeks. One Reddit user commented, saying it just took three weeks for them to go from 20 WPM, which is below the average typing speed, to around 87 WPM, imagine what you could do!