City of Gahanna, Ohio
Job posting: Communications Technician I
“Data Entry with minimal error at least 4,000 keystrokes per hour.”
Data entry of at least 4,000 keystrokes per hour "with minimal error" (no error limit is given).
Who requires what
There is no single national 10-key standard. Each employer writes its own rule, and the wording matters: some count every keystroke, some only the correct ones. Below is the exact text from each source we could open and save, with the date it was posted.
10-key: keystrokes per hour
From postings published in 2025 and 2026.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Nevada
Job posting: Police Dispatcher Professional I
“CritiCall requires an Overall Data Entry score of 3700 keystrokes per hour or higher AND an Overall Non-Data Entry Score of 70% or higher, in order to pass.”
On the CritiCall test: an overall data entry score of 3,700 keystrokes per hour or higher, plus 70% or higher on the non-data-entry parts.
Typing: words per minute
For jobs that test typing instead of (or as well as) a numeric keypad. Our alphanumeric test counts a word as 5 characters (a common convention; the OPM standard doesn't define it) and only compares you with the OPM levels on a 5-minute sample, as OPM specifies.
City of Gahanna, Ohio
Job posting: Communications Technician I
“Typing with minimal error at least 45 WPM.”
Typing of at least 45 WPM "with minimal error".
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Nevada
Job posting: Police Dispatcher Professional I
“The keyboard portion requires a typing speed of 35 net words per minute, after errors.”
Typing: 35 net WPM after errors.
County of Los Angeles, Department of Human Resources
Typing Test — Score-Banking Only (countywide exam notice, revised September 2025)
“2214 Intermediate Typist-Clerk 40”
Intermediate Typist-Clerk (item 2214): 40 WPM minimum.
“1138 Intermediate Clerk/Light Typing 25”
Intermediate Clerk/Light Typing (item 1138): 25 WPM minimum.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
Qualification Standards — Group Coverage: Clerical and Administrative Support Positions
“Data Transcriber, GS-2/4; and (Data Transcription) (any grade): skill in operating an alphanumeric data transcribing machine, or 20 words per minute typing speed 1 for GS-2 transcription duties or 25 words per minute typing speed 1 for GS-3 and GS-4 transcription duties”
Federal Data Transcriber: 20 WPM at GS-2, 25 WPM at GS-3 and GS-4 (or skill on a data transcribing machine).
“Clerk-Typist, GS-2/4; Office Automation Clerk/ Assistant (any grade); (Typing) (any grade); and (Office Automation) (any grade): 40 words per minute typing speed”
Federal Clerk-Typist and Office Automation Clerk: 40 WPM.
“Words per minute are based on a 5 minute sample with three or fewer errors.”
Measured on a 5-minute sample with 3 or fewer errors.
Older postings, kept for comparison
These two postings are from 2017 and 2018. We keep them because they spell out how the rate is measured, but don’t read them as what these employers require today.
State of Hawaii, Executive Branch
Job posting: Data Entry Operator I (Recruitment Number 217655)
“operate an alphabetic and numeric keying and verifying machine at a minimum rate of 25 records or 7,000 keystrokes per hour with an error rate of no more than 10% at the time of hire”
7,000 keystrokes per hour or 25 records per hour, with an error rate of 10% or less.
County of Orange, California
Job posting: Data Entry Technician
“Keyboard at a corrected rate of 5000 keystrokes per hour with a minimum rate of 85% accuracy”
5,000 corrected keystrokes per hour at 85% accuracy or better.
What we don't know
- How CritiCall calculates its “Overall Data Entry score”. The Las Vegas posting doesn't say, so our comparison uses net KPH as the closest match.
- What “minimal error” means in the Gahanna posting. No number is given, so we compare speed only.
- Cut-offs used by private employers and staffing agencies: we haven't found any published ones we could cite. If you've seen a written requirement, send it to us with a link and we'll check it.