Is 100 WPM a fast typing speed?

Yes. On a keyboard, 100 words per minute (WPM) is fast. It sits about 2.4 standard deviations above the average in a 136 million keystroke online study ¹, well past the 78 WPM line for the fastest tenth ². Accuracy still matters, as the section below explains. Our guide to good typing speed places 100 in the full set of levels.

At 100 WPM you are far up the measured range

The online study's average was 51.56 WPM ³. One hundred is well above that average, about 2.4 standard deviations on the study's spread ¹. The fastest typists in that study reached 120 WPM or more ⁴, so 100 is high but not the top of the measured range.

Eighty and 90 are fast too

The fastest tenth of typists in that study were above about 78 WPM ². Speeds of 80 and 90 are above that line, so on the measured scale they also count as fast. For a comparison point, a 2016 Vanderbilt study put standard touch typists at 79.99 WPM on average, against 65.63 for nonstandard typists ⁵. Eighty is therefore about the average of that group, and 90 is above it.

A normal curve is not a safe guide at the top

The distribution is not bell-shaped. The authors report slight positive skewness, with a skewness value of 0.513 ⁶. That means the fast tail is heavier than a normal curve would make it. The study does not report how many typists reach 100, so this guide does not give a percentage for that speed. Treat 2.4 standard deviations as a distance, not as a rank.

Accuracy still decides whether 100 counts

Speed without accuracy is hard to compare. A fast result with many errors means more time spent fixing, so the usable speed is lower. The court reporting skills test sets its floor at 95 percent accuracy on each leg ⁷, and this guide uses that floor for keyboard results too. Our typing accuracy entry shows how to count errors.

The top of the scale is a different question

Above the fastest measured typists, the numbers come from contests and claims, which were not measured the same way. Our fastest typing speed question explains why those figures cannot be compared directly.

Shorthand tests set 100 WPM as a bar, on a different machine

Shorthand is a different skill. Goa's official scheme of examination for the Junior Stenographer post sets its shorthand skill test at 100 WPM ⁸. Those tests use shorthand systems, not a QWERTY keyboard, so a shorthand score of 100 is a target for a different skill. Our stenography and shorthand guide explains the difference, and the stenotype entry covers the machine.

Speech input measured faster than the keyboard speeds above

In one controlled study, speech was faster than typing for entering text. On an iPhone, English speech input reached 153 WPM, against 52 WPM on the built-in keyboard ⁹. That was a controlled study of short phrases in a quiet room, so noisy places and long documents will be slower. Yap, which we make, is an on-device dictation app for Mac and Windows. You can try speech in your browser on the free online dictation page before you decide whether it suits you. Our speaking versus typing guide covers the trade-offs.

What to do if you want to reach 100

1. Measure your gross and net speed on ordinary text, and report both figures.
2. Bring accuracy to 95 percent before you push for more speed.
3. Practice the words and letter pairs you get wrong, rather than only typing faster on easy text.
4. If your writing is mostly composing, plan more and type less, because the wording often sets the pace.

Read next

• To see where 60 WPM sits, read is 60 words per minute a good typing speed.
• For the record speeds, read the fastest typing speed on record.
• To see whether speed still matters for writing, read does typing speed still matter.
• For the 40 WPM level, read is 40 words per minute a good typing speed.