Reading Time Calculator
Calculate how long it takes to read any text or word count.
Reading speed presets:
This tool is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional financial, medical, legal, or engineering advice. See Terms of Service.
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Request a ToolHow to Use the Reading Time Calculator
There are two ways to use this tool:
- Paste text: Paste any article, essay, or document into the text box. The word count is calculated automatically and reading time updates instantly.
- Enter word count: If you know your word count, type it directly in the Word Count field. This is useful when you are planning content and have a target length in mind.
Adjust the Reading Speed (WPM) to match your audience. Use 130 WPM for speech or presentation pacing. Use 150 for slow/careful reading. Use 238 for average adult reading speed. Use 300 or more for fast readers or skimmers.
About Reading Time
The default 238 words per minute comes from a 2019 meta-analysis (Brysbaert) of 190 studies covering nearly 18,000 participants reading silently in English. Typical reading speed varies from around 150 WPM (slow) to 350+ WPM (fast). Silent reading is consistently faster than reading aloud. Technical content, dense prose, and unfamiliar vocabulary slow reading speed. Blog platforms like Medium use 200 WPM for their estimated reading time. This calculator defaults to 238 for higher accuracy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average reading speed?
The average adult reads silently at about 238 words per minute, based on a comprehensive 2019 meta-analysis by Brysbaert covering 190 studies and nearly 18,000 participants. Children read more slowly, around 100-150 WPM. Experienced readers can reach 300-400 WPM. Speed readers claim 1,000+ WPM but typically sacrifice comprehension significantly at those rates. For practical content planning, 200-250 WPM is the standard range used by most content platforms.
How many words should a blog post be?
Most SEO guides recommend 1,500 to 2,500 words for blog posts targeting search traffic. At 238 WPM, that is 6 to 10 minutes of reading time. Short news posts can be 300-600 words (1-2 minutes). Long-form pillar content often runs 3,000-5,000 words (12-20 minutes). The right length depends on the topic depth and what readers need to take action, not an arbitrary word count target.
How long should a speech be for a given time limit?
The average speaking pace is 120-150 words per minute. A 5-minute speech needs about 600-750 words. A 10-minute speech needs 1,200-1,500 words. A 20-minute TED talk (the standard format) needs around 2,400-3,000 words. Set the reading speed preset to "Speaking (130)" in this calculator to estimate speech length from your word count.
Does reading time include time to look at images?
This calculator estimates text reading time only and does not account for images, charts, videos, or interactive elements. Medium adds 12 seconds per image to their reading time estimates. For image-heavy posts or long infographics, add approximately 10-15 seconds per major visual element to the time calculated here.