Survey or industry report
The Time Savings of Fast Typists
Typing.com, Typing.com, n.d.
Read the originalRead on October 19, 2026
- What it is
- Typing.com's own report on a survey of 980 full-time workers who each took a one-minute typing speed and accuracy test on Typing.com. It gives average speeds by typing method, where people looked while typing, generation and gender, industry and workweek typing time. The methodology section is on the same page.
- How much weight it carries
- Primary data from the publisher, with its method stated (Amazon Mechanical Turk, one-minute test, outliers beyond three standard deviations excluded). It is undated on the page, so the collection year is unknown. The sample is computer-literate full-time employees, not all typists, and the speed test differs from real work typing. The publisher sells typing lessons, which is a reason to read its figures with care.
Facts taken from this source
- In Typing.com's survey of full-time workers, those who typed with all 10 fingers averaged 54.6 words per minute on a one-minute typing test, and 61 percent of respondents used that method.
“Typing with all 10 fingers was the method used by 61 percent of respondents, allowing them to produce an average of 54.6 wpm” (Findings on typing method)
- In Typing.com's survey of full-time workers, male baby boomers were the slowest group by generation and gender, averaging 38 words per minute on a one-minute typing test.
“male baby boomers were the slowest ... averaging only 38 wpm” (Findings on generation and gender)
- In Typing.com's survey of full-time workers, those who typed with five to nine fingers averaged 54.7 words per minute on a one-minute typing test, just faster than those who used all 10 fingers.
“Workers who used five to nine fingers comprised just over a quarter of those surveyed but averaged 54.7 wpm” (Findings on typing method)
- In Typing.com's survey of full-time workers, the fewer than 5 percent who mainly looked at the keyboard while typing averaged 39.5 words per minute on a one-minute typing test, the slowest of the three methods the survey compared.
“Less than 5 percent of typists primarily looked at the keyboard and trailed the other two methods with a lackluster 39.5 wpm” (Findings on where workers looked)
- In Typing.com's survey of full-time workers, those who mainly typed without looking down at the keyboard averaged 61 words per minute on a one-minute typing test, about 17 words per minute faster than those who looked at both the keyboard and the screen.
“averaging 61 wpm and almost 17 words faster than those who looked at both the keyboard and screen when typing” (Findings on where workers looked)