Is 70 WPM Good? Where It Sits Between 60 and 80

Here is where 70 sits, rung by rung.

How good is 70 WPM compared with most typists?

Well above the middle, and still short of the fastest on record.

The largest public measurement of typing came out of Aalto University and the University of Cambridge: 168,000 volunteers from more than 200 countries, 136 million keystrokes. The Cambridge write up of the research reports an average of 52 words per minute and a fastest group near 120. The full paper, Observations on Typing from 136 Million Keystrokes, was presented at the CHI 2018 conference.

So 70 puts you 18 words per minute above the average participant, and those participants were people who volunteered to take a typing test, which is a tougher comparison group than the general public. The same Cambridge write up says professional typists in the 1970s and 1980s typically ran at 60 to 90 words per minute. At 70 you are in the middle of that band. You type at the pace of someone who used to be paid specifically to type.

What percentile is 70 WPM?

Nobody can give you an honest exact figure, and anyone who does is guessing.

There is no public, audited percentile table for typing speed. The figures that circulate on typing sites disagree with each other by several points, and the ones I have checked cite no dataset, no sample size and no date. The defensible statement is a band: 70 is comfortably above the 52 WPM average of the biggest dataset that exists, and well short of the 120 WPM top end. If you want the reasoning behind that caution, how typing percentiles actually work walks through it, and what counts as a good typing speed maps the whole range.

One finding from that dataset is worth keeping in mind at 70. The Aalto paper reports that faster typists generally make fewer errors, not more. Speed and accuracy rose together because both come from the same fluency. Treat that as permission to demand accuracy of yourself at this speed, not as a reason to relax it.

What does 70 WPM clear that 60 does not?

Less than you might hope, and that is the honest answer for most jobs.

Look at what employers actually write down. The California state clerical classes, Office Assistant (Typing) and Office Technician (Typing), require 40 WPM on a proctored five minute test. The California Highway Patrol dispatcher minimum is also 40 WPM. Data entry, general office and customer support postings that state a number mostly land in the 40 to 60 range. A 60 already clears all of those, and so does a 70. The extra ten words per minute does not open a new door there. It gives you margin. A margin matters because a published minimum is measured on test day, under pressure, on text you have never seen, and a typist whose real speed is only at the line will fall under it on a bad day.

Where 70 starts to separate from 60 is in the legal and administrative roles that publish higher numbers. The Los Angeles City Attorney's Legal Secretary I announcement requires a typing test of 60 net WPM with five errors maximum, scored on a five minute exercise where one word per minute comes off for every error. At 60 gross, a handful of mistakes sinks you. At 70 gross you can absorb them and still land above the line. The UK's Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs recommends a minimum of 60 words per minute and notes that some firms want 65 to 80. At 70, you are inside that range.

That Los Angeles line is also an honest reminder that no online result, ours included, qualifies there. The announcement states that online issued typing certification will not be accepted and that the certificate must come from an agency or accredited school. If a posting demands a proctored or agency issued certificate, take the test the way it specifies.

How do 60, 70 and 80 WPM compare?

Here is the three rung view. The requirement column uses only the sources above. The effort column is qualitative on purpose, because there is no good public data on how long a given jump takes and it varies a lot from person to person.

	60 WPM	70 WPM	80 WPM
Against the 52 WPM study average	8 above	18 above	28 above
Position in the 60 to 90 band of professional typists	Bottom edge	Middle	Upper half
Published minimums cleared (40 WPM clerical and dispatch)	Cleared with room	Cleared with more room	Cleared, no extra door
Los Angeles Legal Secretary I (60 net, five errors max)	Matches the line, so little room for errors	Clears it with a buffer for a few mistakes	Clears it comfortably
Typical role fit	General office, admin, data entry, support	Admin, executive assistant, legal support, high volume chat	Legal and transcription work, anywhere speed is the product
Effort to reach the next rung	Moderate, mostly consistency	Moderate to high, mostly technique and accuracy	Highest of the three, diminishing returns

Read across the table and the pattern is clear. Going from 60 to 70 mostly buys you buffer against errors and against test day nerves. Going from 70 to 80 buys you a few more roles and a little prestige, and it costs the most to earn. If you want the scorecard for the top rung, is 80 WPM good covers it, and is 60 WPM good covers the rung below.

Which roles still sit above 70 WPM?

Fewer than the typing blogs imply, and the ones that do are specialised.

Legal and medical transcription postings often ask for a speed higher than general office work, and some legal secretary postings state 70 or more, particularly when the job involves typing from dictation. That is a different task from copying text: the audio keeps moving, so the effective bar is a speed you can keep while listening. The legal secretary typing speed breakdown sorts the public sector bars from the private firm ones.

Court reporting is the case people get wrong. The National Court Reporters Association tests its Registered Professional Reporter candidates at 180 to 225 words per minute, but on a stenotype machine using chorded shorthand, not a QWERTY keyboard. It is a different instrument. A 70 WPM typist is not 3 times short of a court reporter. They are not measured on the same scale.

Above all of that, the numbers belong to jobs where typing is the product, or to employers who write a preference rather than a requirement. If your goal is a job posting, read the number in the posting you want, not a general benchmark.

Is your 70 net WPM or a one minute burst?

This is the question that decides whether you really have a 70.

Employers and certification bodies score net WPM, which subtracts a word per minute for every uncorrected error. The Los Angeles announcement spells that out directly, and it is the standard method.

Net WPM = Gross WPM minus (uncorrected errors divided by minutes)

Two things pull a headline 70 down:

• Errors you leave in. At 70 gross on a five minute test, 10 uncorrected errors cost 2 WPM, which is mild. At 70 gross with 50 uncorrected errors, you lose 10 WPM and your net is 60. The score looks about the same on the screen right up until accuracy is applied. How WPM is calculated works through the math.
• Test length. A one minute test rewards a sprint. Fatigue, a bad passage and drifting attention all show up by minute three or four. The standards that matter use five minutes for that reason, and why your WPM differs on every typing test explains the other variables, including text difficulty.

A simple way to check yourself: run the 3 minute typing test twice on different days, and look at net WPM and accuracy rather than the first number on screen. If both runs land at 70 or above with accuracy in the high 90s, you own a 70. If the net score is 62, you own a 62 who types 70 in bursts, and that gap is worth closing before an employer measures it for you.

Is 80 worth chasing from 70?

Only if a specific role or goal needs it.

For most jobs the answer is no, because the published minimums are below 70 and the benefit of 80 is margin, not a new qualification. The honest case for pushing on is the roles above: transcription, legal dictation work, or any job where your hourly output scales with speed. There is also the plain fact that typing faster at the same accuracy saves time every day, and for writers and developers that is reason enough on its own.

If you decide to go, the route is technique, not volume. The Cambridge write up notes that the fastest typists press the next key before releasing the previous one on 40 to 70 percent of keystrokes, and that users with different styles can improve through targeted practice rather than complete retraining. Start by finding which letter pairs slow you down, keep accuracy at or above your current level, and add speed in small steps. How to get to 80 WPM lays out the practice plan.

FAQ

What percentile is 70 WPM?

There is no audited public percentile table for typing speed, so no exact figure is trustworthy. What is documented is that 70 sits 18 words per minute above the 52 WPM average from the largest public study, which analysed 168,000 volunteers. Treat 70 as comfortably above average and treat any single percentile number with suspicion unless it names its data.

Is 70 WPM good for a legal secretary?

Yes, it is in the range that is published. The Los Angeles City Attorney's office requires 60 net WPM with five errors maximum on a five minute test, and the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs recommends 60 as a minimum while noting that some firms want 65 to 80. At 70 you are inside that range, provided your accuracy holds. Read what law firms actually expect before you apply.

Is 70 WPM good for a 14-year-old?

It would be a strong speed for any age. There is no authoritative public benchmark broken out by age that I can cite, so it is better to compare against the 52 WPM average of the large study than to trust age tables without a source. Our post on average typing speed for kids covers what is and is not known.

How long does it take to go from 70 to 80 WPM?

There is no verified figure, and it varies a lot between people. Gains slow down as you climb, so expect it to take longer than the step from 60 to 70, and expect it to depend more on technique and accuracy than on hours logged. Short, regular sessions that target your weakest letter pairs tend to work better than occasional long ones. The plan for reaching 80 WPM breaks it down.

Check that your 70 holds

Take the 3 minute typing test and read the net WPM and accuracy, not just the top number. The result card is free. If a job posting asks for proof, you can upgrade to a verified typing certificate for $4.99 that a recruiter can look up at /verify. Where a posting requires a proctored or agency issued test, follow the posting.