Fact · Typing and writing speed
6.2fingers
Typists who had not learned touch typing used an average of 6.2 fingers in the transcription task.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“On average, non-touch typists use 6.2 fingers, which is surprisingly close to the 8.5 of touch typists.”
How We Type: Movement Strategies and Performance in Everyday Typing, Anna Maria Feit et al., Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2016, Motion analysis.
Open the original (DOI 10.1145/2858036.2858233)- What it measures
- Counted from motion capture of the fingers that pressed keys.
- What it does not show
- Average over 30 participants, with a wide spread between individuals.