Reading Time Calculator

Knowing how long it takes to read a piece of content helps writers set expectations, teachers plan lessons, and readers schedule their time. Reading speed varies a lot by person, by content type and by why you are reading, but reliable averages give you a solid working estimate.

Formula: Reading Time (minutes) = Word Count ÷ Reading Speed (words per minute)

For rounding up to the nearest minute: Reading Time = ⌈Word Count ÷ WPM⌉

Average reading speeds by type:

• Slow/careful reading (dense technical text): 100–150 WPM
• Average adult silent reading (general content): 200–250 WPM
• Comfortable reading (light fiction, news): 250–300 WPM
• Speed reading (trained readers): 400–700 WPM
• Skim reading (headlines, summaries): 700–1,500 WPM

The four speeds in the dropdown are picked off that list: 150 for careful reading, 238 for the average adult, 300 for comfortable reading, and 450 for trained speed reading. The 238 figure is the one worth knowing. It comes from Brysbaert’s 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies, and it is a good deal lower than the 300 WPM that gets repeated on the internet.

What each variable means:

• Word Count is the total number of words in the document. Word processors and tools like Google Docs show this instantly.
• WPM (Words Per Minute) is your personal reading speed.
• Comprehension rate falls as speed rises. Speed reading trades depth for throughput, and past about 500 WPM the trade stops being worth it for anything you need to remember.

Worked examples: A 1,500-word blog post at 238 WPM: Reading time = 1,500 ÷ 238 = 6.3 minutes, which rounds up to a “7 min read”. The calculator rounds up rather than to nearest, on the reasoning that a badge promising six minutes when the text needs six and a third is the wrong way to be wrong.

A 95,000-word novel at the 238 WPM average: Reading time = 95,000 ÷ 238 = 399 minutes = 6 hr 40 min

An academic paper (8,000 words) read carefully at 150 WPM: Reading time = 8,000 ÷ 150 = 53.3 minutes, shown as 54 min

Content benchmark word counts:

• Tweet/post: 40–280 words → under 1 min
• Blog post: 500–2,000 words → 2–8 min
• Long-form article: 2,000–5,000 words → 8–20 min
• Short story: 5,000–15,000 words → 20–60 min
• Novel: 70,000–100,000 words → 5–7 hours