Fact · Typing and writing speed
51.6words per minute
In the text entry speed by input method dataset, the 19 published figures for “Computer keyboard” have a median of 51.6 words per minute, ranging from 15 to 163.
Calculated from 19 data points on October 19, 2026
- What it measures
- Each figure is one row of the dataset: a published measurement for a stated group, traced to its source. The median is the middle value of the 19 figures for this group.
- How it is calculated
- Median of 19 values (15, 23, 25, 35, 38, 39.5, 40, 45.2, 49.7, 51.6, 53.5, 54.6, 54.7, 57.8, 58.9, 61, 65.6, 80, 163) = 51.6.
- What it does not show
- Methods are measured in different studies with different people, phrases and error handling. A direct comparison is only fair within one study; the medians show the typical reported figure per method.
A statistic of the dataset Speech vs Typing Speed: Text Entry Rates Compared, calculated by code from its published rows.
Calculated from
- In the same task, typists who had not learned touch typing entered text at an average of 58.93 words per minute.
- In the transcription task, touch typists entered text at an average of 57.8 words per minute.
- In a two-minute transcription task, Japanese university students typed Japanese at 23 words per minute on desktop PCs.
- In the same study, nonstandard typists averaged 65.63 words per minute.
- In the Vanderbilt study, standard (touch) typists averaged 79.99 words per minute.
- In an analysis of 506,024 typing speed tests taken on Ratatype in April 2026, the median typing speed fell in the range of 30 to 40 words per minute, which Ratatype rounds to about 35.
- The average typing rates of the study's participants on plain text were 23, 35 and 40 words per minute for the slow, average and fast typists.
- In a study of 136 million keystrokes from an online typing test, the average participant typed 51.56 words per minute, with a standard deviation of 20.2.
- In Typing.com's survey of full-time workers, those who typed with all 10 fingers averaged 54.6 words per minute on a one-minute typing test, and 61 percent of respondents used that method.
- In Typing.com's survey of full-time workers, male baby boomers were the slowest group by generation and gender, averaging 38 words per minute on a one-minute typing test.
- In Typing.com's survey of full-time workers, those who typed with five to nine fingers averaged 54.7 words per minute on a one-minute typing test, just faster than those who used all 10 fingers.
- In Typing.com's survey of full-time workers, the fewer than 5 percent who mainly looked at the keyboard while typing averaged 39.5 words per minute on a one-minute typing test, the slowest of the three methods the survey compared.
- In Typing.com's survey of full-time workers, those who mainly typed without looking down at the keyboard averaged 61 words per minute on a one-minute typing test, about 17 words per minute faster than those who looked at both the keyboard and the screen.
- In the same 2017 dissertation, the average typing speed of the control group rose from 8.3 to 15 words per minute, and its accuracy rose from 44 to 70 percent.
- In a 2017 master's dissertation, the average typing speed of the gamified group rose from 8 to 25 words per minute by the end of the training, and its accuracy rose from 43 to 93 percent.
- In the 2010 Ultimate Typing Championship final, Sean Wrona typed a standard 574-word text at 163 words per minute, which Wikipedia calls an unofficial world record.
- Eight to ten days after open carpal tunnel release, average typing speed fell to 45.2 words per minute, a drop the authors call statistically significant.
- Before open carpal tunnel release, the 27 patients in a 2016 study typed at an average of 49.7 words per minute on a short online test.
- At 12 weeks after open carpal tunnel release, the group's average typing speed reached 53.5 words per minute.