Is 40 words per minute a good typing speed?

Yes. Forty words per minute (WPM) is a respectable keyboard speed. It is above the typical lab speed measured in 1999, and it clears the minimum that some public employers set for typists. It is still below the average of the large 2018 online sample, so it is good for everyday work but not yet fast. Our guide to good typing speed sets out every level, and the typing speed overview covers the subject as a whole.

Forty WPM is above the 1999 lab average and below the online average

The best early benchmark is a 1999 study that split its participants by skill. Slow, average and fast typists typed plain text at 23, 35 and 40 WPM ¹. By that measure, 40 is the speed of the fast group, not the middle.

The large 2018 online sample sits higher. In an online test with 136 million keystrokes, the average participant typed 51.56 WPM ². Forty sits below that average. The sample is mostly younger people from the United States who wanted to test and improve their typing ³, so it is not a picture of every typist. Read the two numbers as a range, with 40 inside it.

Job tests often set 35 or 40 WPM as the floor

Some employers publish a typing minimum, and two examples here use 35 and 40. A 2026 U.S. Army job announcement defines a qualified typist as 40 WPM with three or fewer errors ⁴. A 2024 Delhi Development Authority notice requires English medium candidates to reach 35 WPM ⁵. A result of 40 meets the Delhi minimum, and meets the Army's speed if it has three or fewer errors. Read the notice for its scoring rules, because the speed a test records can differ from the raw words per minute you type.

Accuracy decides whether 40 really counts

A speed with many errors is not the same speed. The court reporting skills test requires 95 percent accuracy on each leg to pass ⁶, and this guide uses the same floor. If your 40 WPM comes with many corrections, the usable speed is lower. Our typing accuracy entry explains how to count it.

At 31 or 35 WPM, you are in the ordinary range

A result of 31 WPM is below the 1999 average of 35 ¹, but well above the slowest tenth of the online sample, which was below about 26 WPM ⁷. It sits in the typical band, between the slowest tenth and the average. A result of 35 WPM equals the 1999 average ¹ and the minimum in the Delhi notice above ⁵. Both are ordinary keyboard speeds, and both are a reasonable place to start if you want to improve.

On a phone, 40 WPM is above average

Phone typing is measured separately. In a web-based study of 37,370 volunteers entering text on mobile devices, the average was 36.2 WPM ⁸. Forty on a phone is therefore above that average. Our guide to phone typing speed covers the differences between devices.

What to do with a 40 WPM result

1. Time yourself for five minutes on a passage of ordinary text, and record both your speed and your errors.
2. Check accuracy first. If you are below 95 percent, practice corrections before you chase more speed.
3. Compare the result with the minimum in any job notice you are aiming for.
4. If you want the next level, read how to type faster and our touch typing guide.

Read next for the other speeds

• If you want to see the next level up, read is 60 words per minute a good typing speed.
• For the speeds above 80, read is 100 WPM a fast typing speed.
• To see how your speed compares with people of your age, read the average typing speed by age.
• For the test thresholds in public jobs, read what typing speed government jobs require.