What is my reading time?
Type the number of words or pages and pick a reading rate. The reading time calculator shows how long the text takes to read, and how many days it takes at a few minutes a day.
- Reading time
- 8 minutes, 24 seconds
At 238 words per minute, the text takes 8 minutes, 24 seconds to read.
- Minutes
- 8.4
- Words
- 2,000
- Rate (wpm)
- 238
Reading time: 8 minutes, 24 seconds. At 238 words per minute, the text takes 8 minutes, 24 seconds to read.
How to calculate
Computes how long a text takes to read from its word count or page count, at an average adult reading rate (silent or aloud) or your own words per minute.
Example with the default inputs (I know Word count, Words 2,000, Reading rate Silent, non-fiction (238 wpm)): At 238 words per minute, the text takes 8 minutes, 24 seconds to read.
Method: Words = word count, or pages × words per page; minutes = words ÷ words per minute; days = minutes ÷ minutes a day, rounded up.
- Average adult rates from Brysbaert (2019): 238 words per minute for silent reading of non-fiction, 260 for fiction, and 183 for reading aloud.
- Pages hold 250 words by default, a round figure; count a full page of your own text for a better estimate.
- The time is for one reading at a steady rate, with no breaks.
Worked examples
Each example is checked against the calculator on every build.
- I know Word count, Words 2,380, Reading rate Silent, non-fiction (238 wpm) gives Minutes 10, Reading time 10 minutes.Source: Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047 (238 wpm silent non-fiction)
- I know Pages, Pages 300, Words per page 250, Reading rate Silent, fiction (260 wpm), Minutes a day 30 gives Words 75,000, Minutes 288.461538, Reading time 4 hours, 48 minutes, 28 seconds, Days 10.Source: Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047 (260 wpm fiction)
- I know Word count, Words 1,000, Reading rate Aloud (183 wpm) gives Minutes 5.464481, Reading time 5 minutes, 28 seconds.Source: Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047 (183 wpm aloud)
- I know Word count, Words 1, Reading rate My own rate, Words per minute 120 gives Reading time 1 second.
How it works
- Words = the word count you type, or pages × words per page.
- Reading rate (words per minute, wpm): 238 for silent reading of non-fiction, 260 for silent reading of fiction, 183 for reading aloud (Brysbaert, 2019, average adult rates for English), or your own whole-number rate from 1 to 2,000.
- Minutes = words ÷ wpm. The page shows it with at most 2 decimals, rounded half up.
- Reading time = words × 60 ÷ wpm seconds, rounded to the nearest whole second (a half second rounds up), shown in hours, minutes and seconds.
- Days (when you type minutes a day) = words ÷ (wpm × minutes a day), rounded up to a whole day.
Every input is a whole number, so the time is worked out exactly before the one rounding to whole seconds.
Assumptions
- The rates are averages for adults reading English text of usual difficulty; readers differ, and hard or technical text is slower.
- Pages hold 250 words by default, a round figure. Word count from 1 to 10,000,000; pages from 1 to 100,000; words per page from 1 to 5,000; minutes a day from 1 to 1,440.
- One reading at a steady rate, with no breaks or rereading.
Worked examples by hand
A 2,380-word article, silent non-fiction. 2,380 ÷ 238 = 10 minutes.
A 300-page novel, 250 words a page, fiction, 30 minutes a day. 300 × 250 = 75,000 words; 75,000 ÷ 260 = 288.46 minutes = 17,307.7 seconds, which rounds to 17,308 s = 4 h 48 min 28 s; 288.46 ÷ 30 = 9.6, so 10 days.
A 1,000-word speech, aloud. 1,000 ÷ 183 = 5.4645 minutes = 327.87 seconds, which rounds to 5 min 28 s.
One word at 120 wpm. 1 × 60 ÷ 120 = 0.5 s, which rounds up to 1 s.
Other questions people ask
How do I calculate reading time?
Divide the number of words by your reading rate in words per minute. A 2,380-word article at 238 words per minute takes 2,380 ÷ 238 = 10 minutes.
What is the average reading speed?
A 2019 review of 190 studies (Brysbaert) puts the average adult at 238 words per minute for silent reading of non-fiction and 260 for fiction. Reading aloud is slower, about 183 words per minute.
How long does it take to read a 300-page book?
At 250 words a page, 300 pages hold 75,000 words. At 260 words per minute that is 288 minutes, about 4 hours 48 minutes. At 30 minutes a day you finish in 10 days.
How long is a 1,000-word speech?
Read aloud at 183 words per minute, 1,000 words take about 5 minutes 28 seconds. Pauses and slides make a talk longer, so allow extra time.
How do I find my own reading rate?
Read for a timed few minutes, count the words you read, and divide by the minutes. Pick "My own rate" and type the result.
How many words are on a page?
It depends on the page size, the font and the spacing. The calculator uses 250 words a page by default; count the words on one full page of your book and type that number for a better estimate.