The average person types around 40 words per minute (WPM). I type about 130-140 WPM (proof). Sometimes, and this might sound weird, I feel in the zone and can type significantly faster – closer to 160 WPM. I attribute this to my piano background and a childhood playing video games. Sometimes I’ll sit at the piano, and things just feel right, whereas other times my fingers get stuck on each other.
According to this science blog, surveys show that, as expected, musical training correlates to faster typing speeds.
If you look at the all-time fastest typers on Ratatype, you’ll see they’re hitting 160-185 WPM. Either they’re cheating, or there’s some sort of secret to squeezing out more juice. Some claim that the alternate keyboard layout, the Dvorak Keyboard, allows typers to type faster by minimizing the amount of finger movement. I recall reading that the QWERTY keyboard as we know it was designed to add typing lag as, back when, the typing hardware couldn’t keep up with fast typers – the layout was designed to slow people down.
Anyways, I’ll periodically run a typing test just to see if I’m able to break my record. So, first, I’m happy to see that my typing speed and accuracy are generally improving over time.
And, though it might be unexpected, my accuracy is better with faster typing speeds:
The real challenge, however, is typing with one-hand while holding a baby in the other. (My one-handed record is around 43 WPM, which is still faster than the average Joe’s.)
