Reading Time Calculator

How the calculator works

Reading time is the number of words divided by your reading speed in words per minute. For pages, the calculator multiplies the pages by the words on a page first. Days to finish divide that time by the minutes you read each day.

The speed matters more than anything else, so use your own. Take the reading speed test on a page of ordinary text: when you open the calculator again in the same browser, your last result appears at the top of the speed list.

How long does it take to read 50, 100 or 300 pages?

Worked out at 250 words a page. “Average” is the adult non-fiction average of 238 words per minute; “studying” is about 100 words per minute, the pace people use when they need to remember the text (Brysbaert, 2019).

Pages	Average reading (238 WPM)	Studying (about 100 WPM)
10	11 min	25 min
50	53 min	2 h 5 min
100	1 h 45 min	4 h 10 min
200	3 h 30 min	8 h 20 min
300	5 h 15 min	12 h 30 min
500	8 h 45 min	20 h 50 min

For words rather than pages: at 238 words per minute, 1,000 words take about 4 minutes, 5,000 words about 21 minutes and 10,000 words about 42 minutes.

Which reading speed should you use?

A large review of 190 studies put the average adult’s silent reading speed at about 238 words per minute for non-fiction and 260 for fiction, with most adults between 175 and 300 (Brysbaert, 2019). Reading aloud averages 183. Those are averages across many readers and texts; your own speed on your own material is the number that plans your week.

Two things change it a lot:

• Your goal. Reading to understand is one pace; reading to remember for a test or a meeting is far slower. Studies summarised in the same review found study rates of roughly 40 to 170 words per minute.
• The text. A dense report, a contract or a textbook in an unfamiliar field takes longer per page than a novel. Measure on the kind of text you are planning for.

Plan a reading list

Some quick examples at the average speed and 250 words a page:

• A 40-page report before a meeting: about 42 minutes.
• A 30-page textbook chapter read to study at about 100 words per minute: about 75 minutes.
• A 300-page book at 20 minutes a day: about 16 days.

Put your own numbers in the calculator, then block the time in your calendar. It is easier to keep a plan that already fits your week.

Reading faster, honestly

Faster reading saves time only while you still understand what you read. Research finds that speed and comprehension trade off, and that big jumps such as doubling your speed with the same understanding are unlikely (Rayner et al., 2016). The guide to average reading speed and Does speed reading work? explain the numbers. How to read faster and the lessons show the habits that help, and the speed test checks that the meaning came along.