TypeWars / Typing speed
Is 20 WPM good?
20 WPM is slow.
Well below the adult average. Usually a sign of hunt-and-peck typing; learning home-row placement typically gives the biggest jump.
*Estimate from the Aalto University study of 168,000 typists (Dhakal et al., CHI 2018; mean 51.6 WPM), using a normal approximation.
What 20 WPM means in practice
| Task | Time at 20 WPM |
|---|---|
| 150-word email | 7.5 minutes |
| 500-word page | 25 minutes |
| 1,500-word essay | 75 minutes |
| 80,000-word novel | 66.7 hours |
Times are pure typing at a steady pace. Real writing adds thinking and editing, so speed matters most for transcription, chat and data entry.
Next goal: 40 WPM
The fastest route is touch typing: fingers on the home row, eyes on the screen. Expect a dip for a week or two, then steady gains. Start with the how to type faster guide and its finger map.
Check your real speed
One minute, net WPM, no sign-up.
Take the 1-minute Word BlitzRace tier-matched rivalsQuestions players ask
Is 20 WPM good?
Slow. Well below the adult average. Usually a sign of hunt-and-peck typing; learning home-row placement typically gives the biggest jump. The adult average on a physical keyboard is about 52 WPM (Dhakal et al., CHI 2018).
What percentage of people type faster than 20 WPM?
Roughly 94% of the 168,000 people in the Aalto study, by our estimate. 20 WPM is faster than about 6% of them. This assumes a normal distribution (mean 52, SD about 20), so treat it as an approximation.
How many characters per minute is 20 WPM?
100 characters per minute, or 1.7 keystrokes per second, using the standard 5-characters-per-word rule.
How long does it take to type 1,000 words at 20 WPM?
About 50 minutes of pure typing, not counting thinking or editing time.
How do I get from 20 to 40 WPM?
Learn touch typing first: home-row placement and no looking down. Then 10–15 minutes of daily practice.