Fastest typing speed: who is the world's fastest typer?

There is no single agreed record for the fastest typing speed, because typists have been timed on different machines, for different lengths of time and with different rules. The fastest speed we could confirm is 318.99 words per minute over 15 seconds, set in May 2026 on the typing site Monkeytype by a typist who goes by rocket, also known as MythicalRocket.

The fastest full minute on the same leaderboard is 287.55 words per minute, by a typist named saerith. The number repeated most often from the typewriter days is 216 words in one minute by Stella Pajunas in 1946. Guinness books printed it for decades, but they do not agree on whether that test was official.

We opened every source on this page on 2 October 2026. Online leaderboards change often, so the top names may have moved since then. Where we could not confirm a claim, we say so.

The typing records people cite

Words per minute is shortened to wpm. A "net" speed has words taken off for mistakes.

Made by Click Clack Labs, who make Bumpy Keys. Monkeytype scores were read from its public leaderboard on 2 October 2026. Guinness book wording was read through the Internet Archive's text search of scanned editions. If a row is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.

Who is the fastest typer in the world right now?

The best place to look is a public leaderboard. Monkeytype is a free typing site. PCMag describes its test as a random string of words to type within a time limit. The site keeps the leaderboard itself. It is not a contest with a judge in the room.

When we checked, the English 15 second board listed more than 530,000 scores. At the top was rocket, with 318.99 wpm at 99.03 percent accuracy, set in May 2026. His Monkeytype profile points to the name MythicalRocket and says he types on QWERTY, the usual key layout. The next two scores were 317.79 and 317.60 wpm, so the top spot could change any day.

On the 60 second board, saerith was first with 287.55 wpm at 98.47 percent accuracy, set on 23 September 2026. Second was rocket, with 281.85 wpm.

PCMag interviewed MythicalRocket in May 2024, when he was 17 and his best was 304.76 wpm. The headline called him the world's fastest typist. The article itself says he is "one of the fastest typists in the world." That is the careful way to say it.

The fastest typing in a live contest

The Ultimate Typing Championship is run by the keyboard maker Das Keyboard. Its 2020 final was held live online on 22 August 2020. The winner was Anthony Ermolin, 17, who types under the name chak.

The organizer's press release says his best race was 210.40 wpm at 99.30 percent accuracy, on a long passage of regular English. He averaged 180.88 wpm across the five championship races. The runner-up was the 2010 champion, Sean Wrona, who averaged 172.72 wpm. Typists needed 170.7 wpm just to qualify for the top 25.

These numbers are lower than the Monkeytype scores for a reason. A long passage typed against another person is a different test from a short burst of random words.

Typewriter records: 147, 149 and 140

Typing contests were popular from the 1920s through the 1970s. In the main event, typists copied text for a full hour, and ten words came off the score for every mistake.

Albert Tangora holds the Guinness World Records title for the fastest typist on a manual typewriter in an hour test: 147 net wpm on 22 October 1923. Guinness books add that he used an Underwood Standard.

Margaret Hamma set what Guinness books call the official hour record on an electric machine. She typed 9,316 words with 40 errors on an IBM machine in Brooklyn, New York, on 20 June 1941. That works out to 149 net wpm.

Stella Pajunas, 25, of Cleveland, Ohio, won the one hour contest of the International Commercial Schools in Chicago on 19 June 1946. She typed 140 net words a minute on an IBM Electromatic. She also won the 30 minute and 20 minute events that day, a first for that contest. A trade magazine reported it the next month, and IBM's own archive gives the same 140. The magazine noted that Hamma's 149 was still the record.

What is and is not confirmed about 216 wpm

The figure most pages repeat is 216 words in one minute by Stella Pajunas. Here is its trail through the Guinness books scanned by the Internet Archive.

• The edition cataloged as 1955 says that "in unofficial tests" she reached 200 words per minute on an IBM machine.
• The 1956 edition says the same, with 216 in place of 200.
• The 1964 edition says "in an unofficial test in 1946."
• The 1971 edition, and later ones, say "in an official test in 1946."
• The 2000 edition lists her under fastest typists, with 216 words in one minute on an IBM machine in Chicago.

So the figure is real in one way: Guinness printed it in editions from 1956 to 2000. What we could not find is a report from 1946 of the one minute test itself, or a reason the wording changed from unofficial to official. The 2020 championship press release quotes 216 too, and credits another typing website for it.

Our reading: 216 is a famous number with an unclear paper trail. Her 140 net wpm for a full hour is the part that is confirmed.

Barbara Blackburn and the Dvorak keyboard

Barbara Blackburn is another name you will see. Guinness books listed her from the 1976 edition to the 1985 edition. She typed on the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard, which arranges the letters differently. The 1985 edition says she could keep up 150 wpm for 50 minutes. Earlier editions give her top speed as 170 wpm.

A figure of 212 wpm is often quoted for her. Wikipedia's article on her traces it to a 1985 newspaper interview, where she described her own speed "for a brief time." It was not a Guinness record. The same article, citing a 1977 newspaper report, says her entry went into the book without an official test.

Why the numbers differ

• The machine. A manual typewriter, an electric typewriter and a computer keyboard are not the same job for the fingers. The 1986 Guinness book put it this way: "Records on electric and computer-driven typewriters cannot be compared with any accuracy."
• The length of the test. Short tests give bigger numbers. The same typist, rocket, scored 318.99 wpm over 15 seconds and 281.85 wpm over 60 seconds. Anthony Ermolin's best race was 210.40 wpm and his average was 180.88. Albert Tangora typed for a whole hour.
• The text. Random words, long passages of regular English and an hour of copying are three different tests.
• The scoring. A "word" is counted as five keystrokes, spaces included, so a long word counts as more than one. Net scores take words off for mistakes. In the old hour contests, each mistake cost ten words.
• The keyboard itself. Guinness World Records lists Mark Kislingbury at 360 wpm with 97.23 percent accuracy on 30 July 2004. That was on a stenotype machine, which uses its own shorthand. It does not compare with regular typing.

How fast is fast?

Record speeds are far from what anyone needs. One 1999 study of everyday computer users, summarized on Wikipedia, found an average of 32.5 wpm for copying text. The fastest group in that study averaged 40 wpm. The top Monkeytype score is nearly ten times that average.

For a child, the fair comparison is not a world record, a classmate or a chart. It is their own typing last month. Skill matters more than age, and children start from very different places. Our guide to average typing speed by age has more, as a starting point only.

Curious where you are today? Try our free typing speed test, which runs for 1, 3 or 5 minutes, or the free typing test for kids. If you timed yourself another way, the wpm calculator works out words per minute from keys and time.

MythicalRocket was not always so fast. He told PCMag that his school had no typing class, and that he raised his goal a little at a time: 150 wpm, then 160, and on up to 200. His practice was about 15 to 30 minutes a day. "I just kept practicing and practicing," he said.

Our guide on how to type faster goes step by step. For practice that feels like play, try a typing race.

One record is easy to try at home. Guinness World Records lists the fastest time to type the alphabet as 3.25 seconds, set by Shashank of India on 25 February 2024. See how fast you can type A to Z, and try to improve on your own time, not his.

We make Bumpy Keys, a typing game for ages 4 to 9. It starts with the home row and puts accuracy before speed. Stars are earned for careful typing, never speed. It plays in any browser at play.bumpykeys.com and as an app on iPad and Mac.

Questions people ask

Who is the fastest typer in the world?

There is no single agreed answer. On Monkeytype's public leaderboard, checked on 2 October 2026, the top 15 second score was 318.99 words per minute by a typist who goes by rocket, also known as MythicalRocket. The top 60 second score was 287.55 words per minute by a typist named saerith. Leaderboards change, so check the source for today's names.

What is the highest wpm ever recorded?

The highest speed we could confirm on a regular keyboard is 318.99 words per minute. It was a 15 second test of random words on Monkeytype in May 2026. Longer tests give lower numbers. On a stenotype machine, which is a different kind of keyboard, Guinness World Records lists 360 words per minute by Mark Kislingbury in 2004.

What is the typing world record in Guinness World Records?

Guinness World Records lists Albert Tangora of the USA as the fastest typist on a manual typewriter in an hour test. He typed 147 net words per minute on 22 October 1923, with ten words taken off for each mistake. Guinness books also printed 216 words in one minute by Stella Pajunas in 1946. We could not find a page on the Guinness website for the fastest speed on a computer keyboard.

Did Stella Pajunas really type 216 words per minute?

Guinness books printed that figure for many years, so it is widely quoted. The 1956 edition says she reached it in unofficial tests. Editions from 1971 on call it an official test in 1946. We could not find a report of that one minute test from 1946. What is confirmed is her contest win in Chicago on 19 June 1946, typing 140 net words per minute for a full hour.

How fast is a good typing speed for a kid?

There is no speed a child must reach, and record speeds are far beyond what anyone needs. Skill matters more than age. A fair comparison is your child's own typing last month. If the right keys are coming more easily than before, that is real progress. Accuracy comes first, and speed can build from there.

How do you get faster at typing?

Start with the home row, aim for the right key before the quick key, and practice a little on most days. MythicalRocket told PCMag in 2024 that he practiced for about 15 to 30 minutes a day and raised his goal a little at a time. Small goals and steady practice are a plan anyone can follow.

Sources

Every link below was opened on 2 October 2026. Each line says what we took from it.

• Monkeytype leaderboards. English, 15 second and 60 second boards. Top scores, accuracy, dates and the number of scores listed, read from the public leaderboard data.
• Monkeytype profile for rocket. The profile names MythicalRocket and the QWERTY layout.
• PCMag, "The World's Fastest Typist Is 17 Years Old, and His Next Trick Is Topping 305 Words Per Minute", 29 May 2024. His age, his 304.76 wpm best at the time, how Monkeytype tests work, and how he practiced.
• Business Wire, "Das Keyboard Announces Winners of the Ultimate Typing Championship 2020", 25 August 2020, through the Internet Archive. The winner, his best race, his average, the qualifying speed and the runner-up.
• Guinness World Records, "Fastest typist on a manual typewriter in an hour test". Albert Tangora, 147 wpm net, 22 October 1923, with a ten word penalty per error.
• Guinness World Records, "Fastest realtime court reporter (stenotype writing)". Mark Kislingbury, 360 words per minute at 97.23 percent accuracy, 30 July 2004.
• Guinness World Records, "Fastest time to type the alphabet". Shashank of India, 3.25 seconds, 25 February 2024.
• Office Appliances, July 1946, "Stella Pajunas wins typewriting honors," on the Internet Archive. Her three contest wins in Chicago on 19 June 1946, and Margaret Hamma's 1941 record of 149 words a minute.
• IBM Archives, "Typing posture", through the Internet Archive. Stella Pajunas set a one hour record in 1946 of 140 net five-stroke words per minute.
• Guinness books scanned by the Internet Archive, read through its text search: the editions cataloged as 1955, 1956, 1964, 1971, 1976, 1985, 1986 and 2000. The wording of the Pajunas, Hamma, Tangora and Blackburn entries, and the 1986 note on comparing records.
• Wikipedia, "Words per minute". A word counts as five keystrokes. The 1999 study by Karat and others found an average of 32.5 wpm for copying text.
• Wikipedia, "Barbara Blackburn (typist)". Where the 212 wpm figure comes from, and the 1977 newspaper report about her Guinness entry.

More guides: all Bumpy Keys guides.