Is 50 words per minute a good typing speed?

Yes. Fifty words per minute (WPM) is a good keyboard speed. It matches the average of a large online test, which recorded 51.56 WPM ¹. It is well below the 78 WPM line that marks the fastest tenth of that test ², so 50 is good rather than exceptional. Accuracy matters as much: on the court reporting skills test, a speed only counts with 95 percent accuracy on each leg ³.

Our guide to good typing speed places 50 among the other levels, and the typing speed overview covers the subject as a whole.

Fifty WPM is the middle of the measured range

The 2018 online study averaged 51.56 WPM ¹. Fifty sits about 0.08 standard deviations below that mean ⁴. In practice, 50 is almost exactly the average of the people who took the test. It is not a fast speed in that group, and it is not a slow one either.

The volunteers were not a random sample. Most were younger people from the United States who wanted to test and improve their typing ⁵. People who chose to take a typing test may type faster than the average adult, so the average for the whole population could be somewhat lower. That is our reading of the sample, not a figure the study reports.

Fifty WPM beats the fast group of 1999 and most phone typists

The 1999 study put its slow, average and fast typists at 23, 35 and 40 WPM ⁶. A speed of 50 is above all three of those groups.

On phones the picture changes. In the 2019 phone study, 75 percent of participants typed below 43.98 WPM, and the mean was 36.17 ⁷. A speed of 50 on a phone is above that 75 percent line, so it is well above typical. Our guide to phone typing speed explains the difference between devices.

A 2024 Delhi typing test sets 35 WPM, so 50 clears it

The Delhi Development Authority recruitment notice requires English-medium candidates to reach 35 WPM ⁸. Fifty clears that minimum by a wide margin. Clearing a minimum is not the same as passing a test, though. Read the notice's scoring rules, because a test may count errors against your speed, and some employers set a higher bar.

It depends on accuracy and on the work

• Accuracy comes first. If your 50 comes with many corrections, the usable speed is lower. The court reporting skills test needs 95 percent accuracy on each leg ³, and this guide uses the same floor. Our typing accuracy entry explains how to count errors, and gross and net WPM explains the ways testing bodies score a test.
• Check the role. A transcription or data entry job may ask for more than 35. The minimum in the notice you are applying to is the number that matters for that job.
• Writing is more than typing. In our reading of the composing research, planning and revision take most of the time that finished text takes. That reading is our interpretation, not a measured result, so a faster keyboard may help less than it seems.

Set your own target in three steps

1. Measure your gross and net speed on five minutes of ordinary text.
2. Check accuracy. If you are below 95 percent, practice corrections before you chase more speed.
3. Compare the result with the minimum in any notice you are aiming for, and with the next level up.

If 50 is your current speed and you want more, read is 60 words per minute a good typing speed for the next level, and how to type faster for practice methods. For the other speeds in this range, read is 40 words per minute a good typing speed, is 30 words per minute a good typing speed and is 80 words per minute a good typing speed.