The short answer: the average typing speed is around 40 words per minute (WPM) on a physical keyboard, and roughly 35 WPM on a phone. Anything above 60 WPM puts you ahead of most people, and 100+ WPM is professional territory.
But "good" depends heavily on your device, your age, and what you type all day. Here's how to read your number — you can test your typing speed free here in 30 seconds.
Average WPM benchmarks
| Group | Average WPM |
|---|---|
| Overall average (keyboard) | 40 |
| Students (13–17) | 40–45 |
| Adults, office jobs | 45–60 |
| Programmers | 50–70 |
| Writers, journalists | 60–80 |
| Professional transcriptionists | 80–100+ |
| Phone (thumb typing) | 30–40 |
Two things matter when comparing yourself against these numbers:
- Accuracy beats speed. A 60 WPM typist at 98% accuracy finishes real work faster than an 80 WPM typist at 85%, because every error costs backspacing and re-reading.
- Phone and keyboard are different sports. Swipe typing and autocorrect change the numbers completely — don't compare your thumb WPM to a desktop benchmark.
What's a good typing speed on a phone?
Most people thumb-type between 30 and 40 WPM. Interestingly, research on mobile typing shows younger users often out-type their own laptop speeds. If you're above 45 WPM on a phone, you're genuinely fast.
The catch: raw speed matters less on mobile because most time is lost to fixing typos and rewording, not typing. That's the problem an AI keyboard solves — Synapse fixes grammar, rewrites tone, and expands saved templates with one tap inside WhatsApp, Gmail, or any Android app, so a quick rough draft comes out polished without retyping.
How to increase your WPM
- Fix accuracy first. Slow down until you're above 95%, then push speed.
- Stop looking at the keyboard. Touch typing is the single biggest unlock on desktop.
- Practice in short bursts. Two minutes daily beats one long session weekly.
- Measure weekly. Take the same 30-second test once a week and track the trend, not single runs.
- Let AI absorb the busywork. Templates, text shortcuts, and one-tap grammar fixes cut the characters you actually have to type.
Test yourself
Numbers in a table are one thing — your own score is more interesting. Take the free typing speed test: 15, 30, or 60 seconds, live WPM and accuracy, and a shareable score you can send to friends to beat.