What Is a Good Average Typing Speed on a Mac? Benchmarks That Hold Up

For computer users, a good average typing speed is about 38 adjusted words per minute, the median in a 2026 US study of 10,613 adults. Roughly half of computer users score between 24 and 56 on the same measure, so that band is typical.

Scores above about 56 put you in the top quarter of that group. Scores below 24 put you in the bottom quarter. The sources I checked publish no Mac-only figure, so the computer group is the right yardstick for a Mac. The rest of this guide explains where those numbers come from, how to read your own score, and how to test yourself without fooling yourself.

What the average typing speed is for computer users

The best recent figure comes from a panel study published in Scientific Reports in 2026. The researchers used the Understanding America Study, an online survey panel described as nationally representative in the US. They measured 5,835 computer users and 4,778 smartphone users.

A median is the middle score. Half of the people in the group type faster, and half type slower. The 25th and 75th percentiles mark the middle half. If you land near 24, you sit near the bottom of the computer group. If you land near 56, you sit near the top.

The study uses adjusted WPM. That number multiplies your speed by your accuracy. Type 50 WPM at 90% accuracy and the adjusted score is 45. A score that already counts mistakes will look lower than a raw test result.

The paper does not report a raw median WPM. So you cannot set 37.8 next to the raw number on a typing website and call it a comparison. That mistake comes up again later in this guide.

Older research gives higher numbers. A 2018 CHI study of 136 million keystrokes reported an average of 52 WPM, according to a TypeLit summary. That summary says the fastest five percent went above 80 WPM. I could not open the original paper, so treat both figures as secondhand.

The Aalto University page for that study says about 168,000 volunteers typed sentences in an online test they chose to take. People who choose a typing test are not a random sample. Their scores may run higher than the general population.

Why there is no Mac-only benchmark

If you searched for a Mac typing speed, you wanted a Mac number. I could not find one. The sources I checked group people by device, computer or phone. None of them splits results by operating system.

That split still helps. A Mac is a computer, so the computer median is the right comparison. Your keyboard matters too. A laptop keyboard and an external keyboard can feel different, and your score can shift between them. Run your tests on the keyboard you use most, and write down which one it was.

Population studies describe groups well. They cannot tell you where you should be. Use the numbers as a reference point, not a grade.

How to place yourself in the range

Take three full runs and use the median of those three. Then find your band in the table below. The boundaries are the study's medians and quartiles, rounded to whole numbers.

If your number comes from a typing site that reports only raw speed, the table does not apply directly. Check whether the site also reports accuracy. If it does, multiply the two yourself. A 60 WPM run at 95% accuracy works out to 57 on the study's measure, if the site defines speed and accuracy the same way. If it does not report accuracy, you cannot place yourself reliably.

How to read WPM without fooling yourself

Words per minute sounds simple. It is not. In English text-entry measurement, a standard word is five characters, counting spaces and punctuation. A test that reports 40 WPM is counting 200 characters in a minute. It is not counting 40 real words. Names, code, and long technical terms change the count.

Three things change the number you see.

• Errors. A raw score may ignore mistakes or count them only in part. The research uses adjusted WPM, which already multiplies by accuracy.
• Corrections. Check whether the results page counts backspaces and fixes. Some tests do, and some do not.
• Test length. A 30-second run gives you a few dozen words. One lucky stretch can move the score a lot.

Here is how the ranking can flip. Typist A types 50 raw WPM at 98% accuracy, which gives 49 adjusted. Typist B types 55 raw WPM at 85% accuracy, which gives about 47. The faster raw number loses once errors count.

Check which metric your test shows. If it reports only speed, count the corrections yourself and write them next to the score.

Average typing speed by device and age

Device matters. The median smartphone user types 29.4 adjusted WPM, and the median computer user types 37.8. That gap is about eight points.

The Aalto University mobile study reports a different kind of number. It shows an average of 36.2 WPM with 2.3% uncorrected errors, from 37,370 volunteers. That is a mean, not a median, and it is not adjusted. Do not line it up against the 29.4 figure as if they match.

Thumb typing is slower still. With one or two fingers, people type about 70% as fast on mobile devices as on full desktop keyboards. If most of your typing happens on a phone, judge yourself against the smartphone group.

Many Mac users also type on an iPhone during the day. Test the two separately, and do not average them into one number.

Age is the other big variable. In the same 2026 panel, typing speed fell as age rose. The correlation was -0.52 for computer users and -0.57 for smartphone users. The mean age was 52.4 for computer users and 44.9 for smartphone users.

A correlation shows a pattern, not a cause. The authors also note that older adults with very low functional abilities may be underrepresented. The lowest scores may be missing from the data, so the picture at the bottom may look different.

How stable your typing score is

A single test is a snapshot. The panel also checked retest stability. The intraclass correlation (ICC) was 0.79 for computer users and 0.63 for smartphone users. The authors call 0.79 very high and 0.63 substantial. The retests were about two years apart on average.

A computer score holds up well over time. A phone score varies more between measurements. One bad afternoon will not define you. One test on an unfamiliar keyboard can skew the result, so take several tests and look at the pattern.

What a good score means for your kind of work

Your job decides how much speed matters. Someone who writes long reports all day gains more from a faster score than someone who sends short replies. The gain is real, but it is only one part of the day.

A developer types a lot of symbols, brackets, and short names. A paragraph test does not capture that, so a developer's score can look low even when coding feels fine. A support agent types short, repeated replies. There, saved replies and shortcuts often matter more than raw speed.

This is advice, not research. None of the sources I checked compare typing speed across occupations. Use the benchmarks as a starting point, then test with the kind of text you type every day.

What to do if your score is below the median

A score below 38 does not make you a slow typist in any useful sense. Much of the lost time comes from thinking, not from keys. Still, a few changes help.

• Practice with your own text. Copy a paragraph from your real work and retype it. Generic tests use common words, and your work may use different ones.
• Drill the words you miss. If the same name or term keeps getting mistyped, practice that word for a few minutes a day.
• Learn the editing shortcuts in the next section. Moving and deleting by word often saves more time than a small gain in raw speed.
• Fix pain first. If your wrists or shoulders hurt, change the setup or get checked before you push for speed.
• Test speaking. If your drafts are long, dictation may beat typing for you. The comparison is in the section on writing time below.

What your speed means for real writing time

Typing speed matters most when you type a lot. Divide the length of a document by your speed to estimate the time. Here is the math for two speeds from the 2026 study and one from the 2018 keystroke study.

Those are rough numbers. They use the five-character word standard, so your real word count may differ. They also ignore thinking, reading back, and fixing errors, which take time of their own.

Typing is only part of writing. A faster keyboard will not remove planning time. If you want to test whether speaking would save time, read Is dictation faster than typing on Mac? Speeds, errors and when it wins in 2026. It covers the trade-offs in detail.

Mistakes that make typing benchmarks useless

Most bad comparisons come from a few habits. Watch for these.

• Setting a phone score next to a computer median. The groups differ, and thumb typing is slower.
• Mixing raw and adjusted numbers. A raw 45 and an adjusted 45 are not the same result.
• Trusting a 30-second test. Short runs give you few words, so one lucky run can skew the score. Use a full paragraph or about a minute.
• Ignoring errors. A fast run with many corrections takes longer in real work than the number suggests.
• Using a sample that does not match you. Volunteers who choose a typing test may type differently from the public, and prose tests may not match code or names.

The fix is simple. Check three things before you compare: the metric, the device, and the length of the test. If any of the three differ, the comparison is weak. Fix the mismatch first, then draw a conclusion.

Shortcuts that help on a Mac

Speed is not only keys per minute. Moving, selecting, and deleting fast saves real time. Apple documents these text-editing shortcuts for macOS.

Apple says every app can have its own shortcuts. A combination that works in one app may not work in another. Test the ones you plan to rely on, such as Notes, Mail, or your browser.

To change a shortcut, open System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts, then choose App Shortcuts. Select the checkbox for the command, double-click the current combination, and press the new one. Quit and reopen the app. Restore Defaults sits in the bottom-left corner. If a combination already belongs to another command, it will not work until one of them changes.

How to measure your own average typing speed

Run this routine once a month. It takes about ten minutes.

1. Open the typing speed test in the browser you use most.
2. Sit at the keyboard you use for work. A different keyboard changes the score.
3. Run one short warm-up and throw the result away.
4. Run three full tests on different texts. Use a full paragraph or about a minute each.
5. Write down the speed and the error count for each run. If the results page shows only speed, count the corrections yourself.
6. Use the median of your three runs, not the best one. The best run is the luckiest sample.
7. Compare your median with 38 for computer users and the 24 to 56 middle half. Phone typing sits lower.

Retest after a habit change, such as a new keyboard or a new job that changes how much you type. The 2026 panel's retests were about two years apart and stayed stable on average, so a big jump between runs is worth a second look.

Where Lazur fits when typing is not the limit

If your speed is fine but drafting still takes your day, speed may not be the bottleneck. Lazur is a voice assistant for the Mac that lives in the notch. Hold fn to dictate clean, formatted text at the cursor in any app. Dictation is unlimited on both paid plans, so long drafts do not hit a cap.

Lazur does not click buttons or operate other apps for you. It types what you say where your cursor sits, and you decide what to send. If typing hurts your hands or wrists, read Voice Typing for RSI: What It Can and Can't Fix on Mac in 2026 first.

The free trial is 3 days with no credit card. It starts when you first open the app. Check the current prices on the pricing page. When you are ready, download Lazur for Mac.