How Long Does It Take to Read?
Reading times for any length of text, based on the average adult speed from the largest review of reading rates.
Updated by the SpeedReadTest team
Reading time = number of words ÷ your reading speed. At the average adult speed of 238 words per minute, that means about 4 minutes for 1,000 words, 2 hours for 100 pages and 6 hours for a 300-page book.
Test your reading speed →By Number of Pages
| Length | Words | 175 WPM | 238 WPM | 300 WPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 pages | 6,000 | 34 min | 25 min | 20 min |
| 30 pages | 9,000 | 51 min | 38 min | 30 min |
| 40 pages | 12,000 | 1 hr 9 min | 50 min | 40 min |
| 50 pages | 15,000 | 1 hr 26 min | 1 hr 3 min | 50 min |
| 60 pages | 18,000 | 1 hr 43 min | 1 hr 16 min | 1 hr |
| 100 pages | 30,000 | 2 hr 51 min | 2 hr 6 min | 1 hr 40 min |
| 150 pages | 45,000 | 4 hr 17 min | 3 hr 9 min | 2 hr 30 min |
| 200 pages | 60,000 | 5 hr 43 min | 4 hr 12 min | 3 hr 20 min |
| 250 pages | 75,000 | 7 hr 9 min | 5 hr 15 min | 4 hr 10 min |
| 300 pages | 90,000 | 8 hr 34 min | 6 hr 18 min | 5 hr |
| 400 pages | 120,000 | 11 hr | 8 hr 24 min | 6 hr 40 min |
| 500 pages | 150,000 | 14 hr | 11 hr | 8 hr 20 min |
| 1,000 pages | 300,000 | 29 hr | 21 hr | 17 hr |
By Word Count
| Length | Words | 175 WPM | 238 WPM | 300 WPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 words | 500 | 3 min | 2 min | 2 min |
| 1,000 words | 1,000 | 6 min | 4 min | 3 min |
| 2,000 words | 2,000 | 11 min | 8 min | 7 min |
| 3,000 words | 3,000 | 17 min | 13 min | 10 min |
| 5,000 words | 5,000 | 29 min | 21 min | 17 min |
| 10,000 words | 10,000 | 57 min | 42 min | 33 min |
Famous Books
| Book | Words | 175 WPM | 238 WPM | 300 WPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Bible | 783,000 | 75 hr | 55 hr | 44 hr |
| The New Testament | 180,000 | 17 hr | 13 hr | 10 hr |
| The Quran | 160,000 | 15 hr | 11 hr | 8 hr 53 min |
| The Harry Potter series | 1,084,000 | 103 hr | 76 hr | 60 hr |
| The Great Gatsby | 47,000 | 4 hr 29 min | 3 hr 17 min | 2 hr 37 min |
| Animal Farm | 30,000 | 2 hr 51 min | 2 hr 6 min | 1 hr 40 min |
| Frankenstein | 75,000 | 7 hr 9 min | 5 hr 15 min | 4 hr 10 min |
| 1984 | 89,000 | 8 hr 29 min | 6 hr 14 min | 4 hr 57 min |
| The Hobbit | 95,000 | 9 hr 3 min | 6 hr 39 min | 5 hr 17 min |
| Dune | 188,000 | 18 hr | 13 hr | 10 hr |
| The Lord of the Rings | 480,000 | 46 hr | 34 hr | 27 hr |
| War and Peace | 587,000 | 56 hr | 41 hr | 33 hr |
Page figures assume 300 words per page. Book word counts are approximate and differ between editions. For a book that isn't listed, use the book reading time calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you work out how long something takes to read?
Divide the number of words by your reading speed in words per minute. A 90,000-word book at 238 WPM takes 90,000 ÷ 238 = 378 minutes, or about 6 hours and 18 minutes.
How many pages can you read in a day?
At the average adult speed, about 24 pages in 30 minutes and about 48 pages in an hour. Readers who keep this up for a whole day can get through much more, but tiredness and breaks reduce the total.
How long does it take to read 50 pages?
About 1 hour 3 minutes at the average adult speed of 238 words per minute, assuming 300 words per page. Most adults read between 175 and 300 WPM, which gives 50 minutes to 1 hour 26 minutes. Fifty pages is a popular daily goal: at that rate a typical 300-page novel lasts six days.
Related
Sources
- Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047. Link