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How fast do people read?
Adults read non-fiction silently at about 238 words a minute, and fiction at about 260, according to a 2019 review of 190 studies by psychologist Marc Brysbaert. At that pace, 1,000 words takes about four minutes.
Work it out
pages, single-spaced, Arial 12 pt, about 500 words a page
- Handwritten pages
- 4
- Reading time
- 4 min 12 sec
- Speaking time
- 6 min 40 sec–7 min 42 sec
- Typing time
- 25 min
- Paragraphs
- 5–10
- Sentences
- 50–67
- Characters with spaces
- about 6,000
Write it in the word counter with a goal of at least 1,000 words.
Open the word counterReading time by length
| Length | Reading non-fiction (238 words a minute) | Reading fiction (260 words a minute) |
|---|---|---|
| 250 words | 1 min 3 sec | 58 sec |
| 500 words | 2 min 6 sec | 1 min 55 sec |
| 1,000 words | 4 min 12 sec | 3 min 51 sec |
| 1,500 words | 6 min 18 sec | 5 min 46 sec |
| 2,000 words | 8 min 24 sec | 7 min 42 sec |
| 3,000 words | 13 min | 12 min |
| 5,000 words | 21 min | 19 min |
| 10,000 words | 42 min | 38 min |
Where the numbers come from
Older textbooks often quoted 250 to 300 words a minute. Brysbaert’s review, published in the Journal of Memory and Language, pooled studies of nearly 18,000 readers and found lower averages: about 238 words a minute for silent reading of non-fiction, about 260 for fiction, and about 183 for reading aloud.
Individual speeds vary widely, and so does text: technical material, a second language or small print slows everyone down. Claims of reading thousands of words a minute with full understanding are not supported by research on how the eyes and memory work; skimming is faster, but you take in less.
Using reading time
Reading-time estimates at the top of articles help readers decide when to read, and help writers see when a piece has grown long. The word counter shows the reading time of your text as you write, at 238 words a minute.
Questions and answers
What is the average reading speed?
About 238 words a minute for non-fiction and 260 for fiction, read silently.
How long does it take to read 1,000 words?
About four minutes. See 1,000 words.
How fast do people read aloud?
About 183 words a minute in Brysbaert’s review; presenters usually speak a little slower than they would read to themselves aloud, at 130 to 150.