Typing speed is measured in WPM — words per minute. By long-standing convention, one "word" is counted as five characters (including spaces), so a short word like cat and a long one like elephant are scored fairly. Most tests also show accuracy and raw speed next to your WPM, because how cleanly you type matters just as much as how quickly.
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The figure reported most consistently is around 40 WPM for an average adult, at roughly 92% accuracy. A quick caveat on all the numbers below: they come mostly from typing-test platforms rather than peer-reviewed studies, so they're a solid rule of thumb rather than gospel, and they vary a little between datasets. (One fun, well-documented quirk: most people believe they type noticeably faster than they actually do.)
A rough ladder, using the ranges these platforms report most often:
For a sense of scale: about 60 WPM is often placed near the 75th percentile (faster than roughly three in four people), and consistently topping 100 WPM is reached by fewer than about 5%.
People who type for a living tend to be faster, though the context differs. Commonly quoted ranges include:
Less than you'd think. In a well-known 1984 study, psychologist Timothy Salthouse tested skilled typists aged 19 to 72. Older typists were measurably slower on basic tapping and reaction-time tasks — yet they were not slower at actual typing. The reason: they read further ahead in the text (a larger "eye-hand span") and started preparing each keystroke sooner, quietly compensating for slower reflexes with better anticipation. It's a classic example of practice beating biology.
Around or a bit above the ~40 WPM average is perfectly good for most work and study. Cross into the 65–75 range and you're a genuinely fast touch typist; beyond that you're into professional territory. But numbers aside, the honest test is simple: can you type at the speed of your thoughts without stopping to look down? That's the goal worth chasing.
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The average adult types about 40 WPM at ~92% accuracy, so anything comfortably above that is good. Touch typists commonly reach 65–75 WPM, and pros run 80–120+. Roughly 60 WPM already beats about three in four people. Accuracy counts too — a clean slower run beats a fast one full of corrections.
One "word" equals five characters (including spaces). WPM is correct characters ÷ 5 ÷ minutes. "Net" WPM also subtracts errors, which is why accuracy affects your number.
Not much for regular typists. Salthouse (1984) found older skilled typists were slower on tapping and reaction tests but not at typing — they compensate by anticipating keystrokes further ahead.
Touch type with all ten fingers, keep to the home row, prioritise accuracy, and practise in short daily sessions.
Sources & notes. Skill-level, percentile and by-profession figures are the ranges most commonly reported by typing-test platforms (they are practical benchmarks, not peer-reviewed data, and vary by dataset). The age findings are from Salthouse, T. A. (1984), "Effects of age and skill in typing," Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113(3), 345–371.