Typing rates
Keystrokes per hour, keys per minute and WPM
Divide keystrokes per hour by 300 to get words per minute, because a word is counted as five keystrokes and an hour has 60 minutes. So 10,000 KPH is about 33 WPM and 15,000 is 50. Typing tests measure bursts. Over a real day, my own counts averaged 255 keys per active minute.
The sums
How many keystrokes per hour is 40 WPM?
12,000. Forty words a minute is 40 × 5 = 200 keys a minute, and 200 × 60 = 12,000 keys an hour.
How many WPM is 10,000 keystrokes per hour?
About 33. 10,000 ÷ 60 = 166.7 keys a minute, and 166.7 ÷ 5 = 33.3 words a minute. In one step: 10,000 ÷ 300.
Is 8,000 keystrokes per hour a lot?
Over a whole working hour, yes. A Wellnomics white paper reports that the average computer user in 60 organisations it measured did about 2,000 keystrokes per hour of time at the computer, against 8,000 to 22,000 an hour for data entry work. So 8,000 sustained is four times that average and the low end of data entry. Wellnomics sells the ergonomics software that took those measurements. Read the paper (PDF).
Why is my all-day number lower than my typing test?
A typing test times a minute or two of copying text you can see, flat out. A working day is reading, thinking and pausing, and the fixing in between: TypeCount counts Backspace, the arrows and the C in Ctrl+C, none of which a test credits as words. Both numbers are honest; they measure different things.
My own rate
What does a real working rate look like?
- 255keys per active minute
- 15,300keys per active hour
- 51words per minute, about
Method: 159,389 keystrokes ÷ 626 active minutes over 13 logged days = 255 a minute; × 60 = 15,300 an hour; ÷ 5 = about 51 WPM. Active minutes are TypeCount’s measure: a pause of 5 seconds or less between keys counts as typing, and a longer one adds only one second. So this is my pace while typing, not across the whole day. The day-by-day numbers are on how many keystrokes a day.
Your own rate, all day.
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Windows 10 (version 1809 or later) or Windows 11, 64-bit
Just want a quick count? Try the online keystroke counter, or go back to TypeCount’s home page.