My own numbers
How many keys do I press in a day? I counted.
It depends on the work, so I counted mine. Over 13 logged days between 10 September and 3 October 2026, TypeCount logged 159,389 keystrokes on my PC: about 12,260 a day on average, 14,226 on the middle day and 23,549 on my busiest, a Monday. That was about 10 hours of actual typing in all.
- 159,389keystrokes in 13 days
- 12,260a day on average
- 14,226on the middle day
- 23,549on my busiest day
Day by day
What did each day look like?
| Date | Keystrokes | Active minutes | Share of the busiest day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6,437 | 21 | ||
| 16,661 | 66 | ||
| 4,644 | 18 | ||
| 6,926 | 29 | ||
| 17,605 | 66 | ||
| 14,933 | 63 | ||
| 14,226 | 54 | ||
| 17,487 | 68 | ||
| 23,549 | 93 | ||
| 21,752 | 85 | ||
| 7,839 | 31 | ||
| 6 | 0 | ||
| 7,324 | 32 | ||
| All 13 days | 159,389 | 626 |
A long way off
How long would 50 million keystrokes last?
About 11 years at my pace. 50,000,000 ÷ 12,260 keys a day = 4,078 days, and 4,078 ÷ 365 = 11.2 years. That assumes I type every single day, which the gaps in the table say I don’t.
Other numbers you will find
Why do published averages disagree so much?
Search for an average and you get answers that differ by a factor of about 80. Each one below is quoted from its own page, read on .
729 keys a day for its average user
No period or method is stated, and an average over every account includes people who barely use it.
4,000 to 9,000 keys on a normal day at a computer
Pulse is a typing tracker for the Mac, and the article cites no sources or measured data.
40,000 to 60,000 keys a day for the average office worker
No source is given, and Vibe Typer sells voice typing, so a bigger number makes its case.
They measure different people over different periods, and most don’t say how. Mine has the opposite problem: the method is all here, but one person is not an average. Treat 12,260 as one data point, not a norm.
Hour by hour
What hour do I type the most?
15:00, with 23,251 keys summed across all 13 days. 94% of my keys fell between 11:00 and 19:59 (150,319 ÷ 159,389), and none before 10:00 or after 20:59.
| Hour | Keystrokes | Share of the busiest hour |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00 to 00:59 | 0 | |
| 01:00 to 01:59 | 0 | |
| 02:00 to 02:59 | 0 | |
| 03:00 to 03:59 | 0 | |
| 04:00 to 04:59 | 0 | |
| 05:00 to 05:59 | 0 | |
| 06:00 to 06:59 | 0 | |
| 07:00 to 07:59 | 0 | |
| 08:00 to 08:59 | 0 | |
| 09:00 to 09:59 | 0 | |
| 10:00 to 10:59 | 1,133 | |
| 11:00 to 11:59 | 12,190 | |
| 12:00 to 12:59 | 22,668 | |
| 13:00 to 13:59 | 15,152 | |
| 14:00 to 14:59 | 16,898 | |
| 15:00 to 15:59 | 23,251 | |
| 16:00 to 16:59 | 13,815 | |
| 17:00 to 17:59 | 17,400 | |
| 18:00 to 18:59 | 13,868 | |
| 19:00 to 19:59 | 15,077 | |
| 20:00 to 20:59 | 7,937 | |
| 21:00 to 21:59 | 0 | |
| 22:00 to 22:59 | 0 | |
| 23:00 to 23:59 | 0 |
Pace
How fast is that?
255 keys per active minute: 159,389 keys ÷ 626 active minutes = 254.6. At five keys to a word that is about 51 words per minute, while I am actually typing. Converting between keys per hour, keys per minute and WPM is on the keystrokes per hour page.
Your turn
How do you count your own?
- 01
Install
Get TypeCount from the Microsoft Store. It is free for 30 days, with everything included.
- 02
Type as usual
It starts with Windows and counts in almost every app. It never keeps which keys you press.
- 03
Read your days
Open the dashboard from the tray icon. History, Sessions and the Calendar show your own version of this page.
Download from the Microsoft Store. Free for 30 days, then US$0.99 once.
Windows 10 (version 1809 or later) or Windows 11, 64-bit
Worried a counter is a keylogger? Here is what TypeCount stores. Or try the online keystroke counter first, or go back to TypeCount’s home page.