The average typing speed is 40 WPM. 60-80 WPM is above average and sufficient for most jobs. 80-100 WPM is fast. Over 100 WPM puts you in the top 5% of typists. Professional transcriptionists often type 120+ WPM.
The world record for sustained typing is 216 WPM, set by Stella Pajunas in 1946 on an IBM electric typewriter. On modern keyboards, competitive typists regularly exceed 200 WPM in short bursts on sites like TypeRacer.
Learn touch typing (using all 10 fingers without looking). Practice daily for 15-30 minutes. Focus on accuracy first — speed follows naturally. Use proper posture and keyboard height. Mechanical keyboards can also help.
WPM (Words Per Minute) counts the total characters typed, divides by 5 (the standard "word" length), then divides by the time in minutes. This test also factors in accuracy — errors reduce your effective WPM.
Somewhat. Programmers spend more time thinking than typing, but faster typing reduces friction between thought and code. 60+ WPM is comfortable for most developers. The real bottleneck is usually thinking speed, not typing speed.