Is 35 WPM Good?
35 WPM is below the adult average, though fine for light everyday use. It is 17 WPM below the 51.6 WPM average in the largest typing study and faster than about 20.6% of the people tested.
Scale 0–150 WPM. The tick marks the 51.6 WPM study average.
What 35 WPM means in practice
- A 150-word email: about 4 minutes of typing.
- A 500-word essay: about 14 minutes.
- 1,000 words of notes or transcription: about 29 minutes.
Jobs that 35 WPM qualifies for
Typical requirements from job listings (they vary by employer, and most also want 90–98% accuracy):
| Role | Typical ask | At 35 WPM |
|---|---|---|
| General office / receptionist | 35–45 WPM | Meets the lower end |
| Customer service / chat support | 40–60 WPM | Short by 5 WPM |
| Administrative assistant | 45–60 WPM | Short by 10 WPM |
| Legal or medical secretary | 60–75 WPM | Short by 25 WPM |
| Transcriptionist | 65–80 WPM | Short by 30 WPM |
For numeric roles scored in keystrokes per hour, use the 10 key test or the data entry test.
How to move past 35 WPM
The quickest gains at this level come from touch typing: learn the home row, stop looking at the keys, and keep accuracy above 95 percent even if that feels slow at first. Practice drills target the keys you miss, and how to type faster explains why slowing down slightly often raises net WPM.
Next milestone: is 40 WPM good?
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Frequently asked questions
Is 35 WPM a good typing speed?
35 WPM is below the adult average, though fine for light everyday use. In the largest typing study (Dhakal et al., CHI 2018, about 168,000 volunteers) the average was 51.6 WPM, so 35 WPM is 17 WPM below that average and faster than roughly 20.6% of participants.
Is 35 WPM good enough for a job?
It meets the typical listed requirement for: general office / receptionist. Employers usually also expect 90 to 98 percent accuracy, and many test you themselves.
How many characters per minute is 35 WPM?
Typing tests count a word as 5 characters, so 35 WPM is 175 characters per minute, or about 10,500 keystrokes per hour.
How long does it take to type 1,000 words at 35 WPM?
About 29 minutes of pure typing. A 500-word essay takes about 14 minutes. Real writing takes longer because you also stop to think.
How do I get faster than 35 WPM?
The quickest gains at this level come from touch typing: learn the home row, stop looking at the keys, and keep accuracy above 95 percent even if that feels slow at first.
Percentiles are a normal approximation (mean 51.56, SD 20.2) of the data in Dhakal, Feit, Kristensson & Oulasvirta, "Observations on Typing from 136 Million Keystrokes", CHI 2018. Volunteers on a typing site are likely faster than the general public, so treat percentiles as approximate. See average typing speed.