Is 35 WPM Good?

35 WPM

Developing. Faster than about 37% of typists.

35 WPM is a little below average. Most adults type around 40 WPM, so you are close. A few weeks of short daily practice will usually get you there.

Think you can beat 35 WPM?

Punctuation

1:000 wpm100% accuracy

Practicefortenminutesadayandyouwillnoticethedifferencewithinafewweeks.Speedcomesfromrhythm,notfromrushing.Agoodtypistdoesnotlookatthekeyboard.

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Tab or Esc restarts · the timer starts on your first keystroke

What 35 WPM looks like in real life

Characters per minute	175
Keystrokes per hour	10,500
A 150 word email	4.3 minutes
A one page letter (500 words)	14.3 minutes
A 2,000 word essay	57.1 minutes
A 50,000 word novel draft	23 h 49 min

Pure typing time at a steady pace, not counting thinking and editing.

Jobs where 35 WPM is enough

✅ General office, receptionist (often 35+ WPM)
⬜ Customer service and live chat (often 40+ WPM)
⬜ Administrative assistant (often 45+ WPM)
⬜ Executive assistant (often 50+ WPM)
⬜ Legal and medical secretary (often 60+ WPM)
⬜ Transcriptionist (often 65+ WPM)
⬜ Fast-turnaround transcription and captioning (keyboard) (often 80+ WPM)

How 35 WPM compares

Speed	Level	Faster than
0–24 WPM	Beginner	0–10%
25–39 WPM	Developing	12–47%
40–54 WPM	Average	50–77%
55–69 WPM	Above average	79–91%
70–89 WPM	Fast	92–98%
90–109 WPM	Very fast	98–99.4%
110–129 WPM	Expert	99.4–99.8%
130+ WPM	Elite	99.8–99.9%

Percentiles are estimates based on published averages for adult typists (about 40 WPM on a keyboard). See the research.

How to get from 35 to 45 WPM

Learn proper touch typing first: fingers on the home row, eyes on the screen. Ten minutes a day beats an hour once a week. Read the full guide on how to type faster.