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Reading Time Calculator
Estimate how long a text takes to read. Enter a word count, or a page count with words per page, and choose a reading speed. The defaults are research averages for adults; switch to your own speed for a personal estimate.
- In minutes
- 21 min
- Days at your daily reading time
- 0.7 days
- Words
- 5,000
Saved setups
Save a set of inputs you reuse — your usual rate, your loan, your room sizes — and load it back in one tap.
Your recent calculations
Results you calculate here are kept on this device so you can come back to them.
Formula
How to use it
- Enter the length in words or in pages.
- Choose a reading speed, or enter your own.
- Set how long you read per day to see how many days it will take.
Worked examples
A 2,380-word article at 238 words per minute
- Reading time
- 10 min
- In minutes
- 10 min
- Words
- 2,380
A 300-page novel at 250 words a page, read at 260 wpm for 30 minutes a day
- Words
- 75,000
- In minutes
- 288.5 min
- Reading time
- 4 h 48 min
- Days at your daily reading time
- 9.6 days
Reading 915 words aloud at 183 wpm
- Reading time
- 5 min
- In minutes
- 5 min
Where the speeds come from
The defaults come from Marc Brysbaert’s 2019 review of 190 studies of adult reading in English: an average of 238 words per minute for silent reading of non-fiction, 260 for fiction, and 183 for reading aloud. Individual readers range widely, and dense or technical material is slower.
Measuring your own speed
Time yourself reading for exactly two minutes at your normal pace, count the words you covered, and halve it. Enter that under “My own speed”. For pages, a typical paperback holds 250–300 words a page; count one full page of your book to be sure.
Questions people ask
How long does it take to read 1,000 words?
About 4 minutes 12 seconds at the average 238 words per minute.
How long does it take to read a 300-page book?
At 250 words a page that is 75,000 words: about 4 hours 48 minutes at 260 wpm, or roughly 10 days at 30 minutes a day.
How long does it take to read 10 pages?
About 10–11 minutes for 10 paperback pages of 250 words at 238 wpm. Textbook pages with 400–500 words take closer to 20 minutes.