Reading Time Calculator
Paste any text or type a word count to see how long it takes to read, at three speeds.
Leave this blank to use the pasted text.
Nothing to read yet. Paste some text or type a word count above, and the reading times will fill in instantly.
These are averages across many readers, not a measurement of your own pace. Dense or unfamiliar material reads slower, familiar material faster.
How reading time is estimated
Reading time is just word count divided by reading speed, so the only real question is which speed to use. The honest answer is that it varies, both between people and between texts, but the research gives us a solid middle. A 2019 meta-analysis by Marc Brysbaert, pooling more than a hundred studies, put average adult silent reading of non-fiction near 238 words per minute. This tool uses that figure as the average speed, with 150 words per minute for careful reading and 400 for skimming.
The three numbers give you a range rather than a single false promise. Careful reading is what you do with dense or unfamiliar material, when you pause to absorb each point. Skimming is for scanning headings and topic sentences to decide whether something is worth a proper read. The average sits where most everyday reading lands. Speaking time, shown separately, runs slower still (around 130 words per minute), which is useful if you are timing a talk or a voice note.
Knowing the length up front helps you plan, and short, spaced sessions tend to stick better than one long push. If you want to turn that into a habit, see the daily learning system and our roundup of the best microlearning apps. For the reading-speed figures themselves, the Brysbaert meta-analysis is the source worth reading.