About the Reading Time Calculator
This reading time calculator estimates how long a piece of writing takes to read. Enter a word count, a number of pages, or paste the text itself, choose the type of material, and it shows the reading time, the time to study it properly, the time to read it aloud, and how many days it will take to finish at your daily reading habit.
It is useful for students planning how long a reading list or textbook chapter will take, bloggers adding a "5 min read" label, book lovers setting a reading goal, and presenters checking a script. Reading speed depends heavily on the material: most adults read light fiction at 250 words per minute or more but slow to 100–150 words per minute for dense textbooks and technical papers, so pick the content type that fits.
Page counts assume about 250 words per page, typical of a paperback novel; change it for large-format textbooks (often 400–500 words per page) or double-spaced manuscripts (about 250–300). Study time is estimated at 2.5× reading time to allow for note-taking and review.
How to use the reading time calculator
- 1Choose whether you know the word count, the page count, or want to paste the text.
- 2Enter the words or pages (and words per page if needed).
- 3Pick the content type, or set your own reading speed.
- 4Enter how many minutes a day you read to see when you will finish.
Formula and method
Reading time is the word count divided by reading speed in words per minute. If you enter pages, the word count is estimated as pages × words per page; if you paste text, the words are counted directly. Times under an hour are shown in minutes, longer times in hours and minutes.
Study time multiplies reading time by 2.5 to allow for a first read, note-taking (about half as long again) and a review pass — a planning rule of thumb, not a measured figure. Read-aloud time uses 150 words per minute, a typical pace for presentations and audiobooks. Days to finish divides the reading time by the minutes you read each day and rounds up.
- WPM
- Reading speed in words per minute
- words per page
- Average words on one printed page (≈250 for a paperback)
Worked examples
5,000-word article at a casual pace
5,000 words at 250 words per minute takes 5000 ÷ 250 = 20 minutes. Studying it properly takes about 2.5 × 20 = 50 minutes, and reading it aloud at 150 WPM takes about 33 minutes.
A 300-page novel, 30 minutes a day
300 pages × 250 words = 75,000 words. At 250 WPM that is 300 minutes, or 5 hours of reading, which takes 10 days at half an hour a day.
Textbook chapter
A 12,000-word chapter read at a textbook pace of 150 WPM takes 80 minutes. Allowing for notes and review, budget about 200 minutes (3 hr 20 min) — two 45-minute sessions just to read it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average reading speed?+
A 2019 review of 190 studies by Marc Brysbaert found adults read English non-fiction silently at about 238 words per minute and fiction at about 260. Dense technical text is much slower, and speed-reading claims above 500 WPM usually come with lower comprehension.
How long does it take to read a 300-page book?+
At about 250 words per page and 250 words per minute, a 300-page book is 75,000 words and takes around 5 hours. At 30 minutes a day you would finish in about 10 days.
How many words are on a page?+
A typical paperback novel has 250–300 words per page, a hardback 300–350, and a large textbook 400–500 or more. A double-spaced 12-point manuscript page holds about 250–300 words.
How is "X min read" calculated on blogs?+
Most sites divide the word count by an average reading speed of 200–265 words per minute and round to the nearest minute. Medium, for example, uses about 265 WPM and adds time for images.
Why is study time 2.5× reading time?+
Effective study includes the first read, taking notes (roughly half the reading time again) and reviewing or testing yourself (about the same as the reading time), which adds up to about 2.5 times the reading time.