Is 60 words per minute a good typing speed?

Yes. Sixty words per minute (WPM) is a good keyboard speed. It is above the average in a large 2018 online study, and it is close to what touch typists reached in a 2016 lab task. It is below the 78 WPM line that marks the fastest tenth of typists, so it is good but not exceptional. Our guide to good typing speed sets out every level in the same frame.

Sixty WPM is above the online average

In the 2018 study of 136 million keystrokes, the average participant typed 51.56 WPM ¹. Sixty is faster than that average. Measured in standard deviations, using the study's spread of 20.2 WPM ², 60 sits about 0.4 standard deviations above the average typist ³. That places you clearly above the middle, but not far above it.

Fifty to 55 is the middle, and 70 is above it

The table shows where the common speeds sit in the 2018 online study. The bands use the average and the top-tenth line from that study.

A speed of 50 is just under the average, so it is typical rather than good. A speed of 55 is just above it. A speed of 70 is comfortably above the average, but it still falls short of the line at 78.

The fastest tenth starts at 78 WPM

Typists faster than 90 percent of participants were above about 78 WPM ⁴. That line is about 1.5 times the average ⁵. Both 60 and 70 sit below the fastest tenth. So 60 is a real achievement on a keyboard, and the gap to 78 is where most of the extra work lies.

Touch typists reached speeds near 60 in a 2016 lab study

A 2016 study of how people type compared two groups. Touch typists entered text at 57.8 WPM in a transcription task ⁶. Typists who had not learned touch typing reached 58.93 WPM on the same task ⁷, so the untrained group was about 1.1 WPM faster there ⁸. The gap between the two groups is small, but the study measured a transcription task, not a full day of work. Our touch typing guide covers what the method adds and when it is worth learning.

Accuracy decides whether 60 counts

The court reporting skills test requires 95 percent accuracy ⁹, and this guide uses that floor for keyboard results too. Sixty WPM with frequent corrections is not the same result as 60 WPM with few. Measure both, and read the typing accuracy entry if you want the exact formula.

It depends on the device, the text and the goal

• Your device. Phone speeds are measured on a different scale, so compare a phone result with phone benchmarks. Our phone typing speed guide gives them.
• Your text. Copying a passage and composing new text draw on different skills. If most of your work is composing, planning and wording take more of the time than the keys do. Our writing speed guide covers that case.
• Your goal. For a job with a stated minimum, check the notice. The minimum is the number that decides the outcome, not the average.

What to do with a 60 WPM result

1. Repeat the test on new text on another day. One run is a noisy estimate.
2. Look at your errors, and fix the ones you repeat. Accuracy is usually the cheaper gain.
3. If your target is the fastest tenth, the next step is 78 WPM, and the guide to how to type faster covers the habits that get you there.

Read next

• To check whether 40 WPM is enough for a job, read is 40 words per minute a good typing speed.
• For speeds beyond 78, read is 100 WPM a fast typing speed.
• To see the fastest results ever measured, read the fastest typing speed on record.
• To see whether speed still matters for writing, read does typing speed still matter.