TypeDash
Regional Typing Challenges
Pick a country, territory or US state and race a simulated runner at its displayed regional typing pace. Every page also has a short local story you can turn into your own challenge.
Find your place
Every country, territory and US state below has its own average race and an optional short story you can make your own challenge.
Countries and territories
US states
How regional challenges work
Each page races you against a simulated runner set to that page’s displayed pace, with one pace for keyboard races and one for phone races. The race starts straight away in Practice, on the same passage and with the same scoring as every TypeDash practice run. The runner is a simulation at a constant pace, not a recorded person.
Each pace is labeled with its source: a published research study, a typing-test platform’s published average, a modeled phone estimate, or a qualified TypeDash player median. Keyboard and touch qualify independently. Until a cell qualifies, it keeps its labeled published or modeled estimate. US state estimates use national US figures because we found no suitable state-level research estimate.
Each page also has a short original story set in that place. It is optional: open it in the challenge maker, lock it in and race it, and it becomes a new challenge of your own, with its own leaderboard for the friends you send it to. The stories borrow a setting from a place and stay light: no claims about the people who live there and no jokes at anyone’s expense.
What these pages don’t do
We don’t rank countries or states. Where a research study or a typing-test platform has published a figure for a country, that country’s page shows it with its source, who took part, the statistic used and its limits, and says plainly that it is not a measurement of everyone who lives there. For US states, we found no suitable state-level estimate in the sources we reviewed, so state pages say so instead of borrowing a national number as their own. Official standards or exam rules appear where we could verify one.
All passages are in English for now. Some stories use the name of a real thing, like a ferry or a videoke machine, but never slang used as decoration.
A global reference point
External research
In a 2018 study, 168,960 self-selected volunteers on an online typing test averaged 51.56 WPM when typing short English sentences (Dhakal et al., CHI 2018). Method: each person typed 15 sentences in a browser, timed from the first to the last keypress of each sentence; 68% of participants were in the US, and the paper gives no country breakdown.
External research: Dhakal et al., CHI 2018. Online sentence-typing test; 168,960 self-selected volunteers, 68% in the US; global, no country breakdown. Not a TypeDash measurement.
Measured differently from TypeDash races (excludes reading and reaction time), so not directly comparable.
This is an external research figure, not a TypeDash measurement, and it is not a regional figure.
Make a challenge of your own
Don’t see a place you know? Write your own short passage, race it, and send the link to friends. Your challenge gets its own leaderboard.
Is there a leaderboard?
When enabled, each country, territory and state page shows its own leaderboard of players who raced that page’s average: their best valid time, with keyboard and touch ranked separately. It lists players who chose that race, not where anyone lives, and the simulated runner is never on it. Races started before a page’s leaderboard opened are not on it. A story you lock in and race becomes your own challenge, with its own separate leaderboard for the friends you send it to.
Where do the average paces come from?
Each keyboard or touch pace uses a qualified TypeDash player median when enough data passes the published quality checks; otherwise it uses the labeled published or modeled estimate. The US and state fallback figures are national study medians for computer and phone typing. Other country fallbacks use published typing-platform keyboard averages and modeled phone paces. Each page explains the active source, sample and limits. TypeDash players are self-selected and do not represent everyone in a region.
Can I compare my TypeDash result with the study average?
Only loosely. The study timed typing from the first to the last keypress of each sentence, while a TypeDash race includes reading the passage and reacting to the start, so the two numbers aren’t measured the same way.
Do I have to live in a place to race its average?
No. Every page is open to everyone, and nothing on any board says where a racer is.
Can I race on my phone?
Yes. Touch runs are ranked apart from Keyboard runs, so nobody is compared across devices.
Is it free?
Yes. It runs in your browser with nothing to install.
Ready for one race?
Free during early access. Play in your browser, with no download or account signup required. Best on a real keyboard; touch play is available too.
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