The short answer
Reading time is words divided by words per minute. The only question is which rate to use, and the best available answer comes from a 2019 review by Marc Brysbaert in the Journal of Memory and Language. He pooled 190 studies with 18,573 participants and found that adults reading English silently average about 238 words per minute for non-fiction and 260 for fiction. Reading aloud, from 77 studies, averages 183 words per minute.
So 1,000 words of an article takes 1,000 ÷ 238 = 4.20 minutes, which is 4 min 12 sec. The word counter does this as you paste: it counts the words and shows the reading time at the same 238 words per minute.
Reading time by word count
All three rates for the word counts people most often ask about. Times are rounded to the second.
| Words | Silent, non-fiction (238 wpm) | Silent, fiction (260 wpm) | Aloud (183 wpm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | 1 min 3 sec | 58 sec | 1 min 22 sec |
| 500 | 2 min 6 sec | 1 min 55 sec | 2 min 44 sec |
| 750 | 3 min 9 sec | 2 min 53 sec | 4 min 6 sec |
| 1,000 | 4 min 12 sec | 3 min 51 sec | 5 min 28 sec |
| 1,500 | 6 min 18 sec | 5 min 46 sec | 8 min 12 sec |
| 2,000 | 8 min 24 sec | 7 min 42 sec | 10 min 56 sec |
| 3,000 | 12 min 36 sec | 11 min 32 sec | 16 min 24 sec |
| 5,000 | 21 min 1 sec | 19 min 14 sec | 27 min 19 sec |
| 10,000 | 42 min 1 sec | 38 min 28 sec | 54 min 39 sec |
A 500-word blog post is a 2 min 6 sec read. A 3,000-word feature takes 12 min 36 sec. A 10,000-word report is 42 min 1 sec of solid reading, and almost an hour if someone reads it to you. If you need the length in pages rather than minutes, the words per page guide has measured counts for common fonts and spacing.
Silent reading vs reading aloud
Reading aloud is slower because every word has to be spoken, and speech has a ceiling. The review's figure of 183 words per minute for oral reading is about 23 percent below the silent non-fiction rate. That difference matters when you are timing something that will be heard: a voice-over, a speech, a podcast segment or a video script. For those, use a speaking rate, not a reading rate. The script timer is built for that, and its section on choosing a speaking pace explains the paces it offers, from slow narration to fast delivery, so this guide does not repeat them.
The range around the averages
An average hides a wide spread. The review reports that most adults fall between 175 and 300 words per minute for non-fiction, and between 200 and 320 for fiction. For 1,000 words of non-fiction that is anywhere from 3 min 20 sec to 5 min 43 sec. Children, older adults and people reading English as a second language read more slowly than these figures. The review also argues that commonly cited reading speeds are overestimates, which is why the numbers here are lower than many you may have seen.
| Reader | Rate | 1,000 words | 5,000 words |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slow end of the adult range, non-fiction | 175 wpm | 5 min 43 sec | 28 min 34 sec |
| Average adult, non-fiction | 238 wpm | 4 min 12 sec | 21 min 1 sec |
| Average adult, fiction | 260 wpm | 3 min 51 sec | 19 min 14 sec |
| Fast end of the adult range, fiction | 320 wpm | 3 min 8 sec | 15 min 38 sec |
| Reading aloud | 183 wpm | 5 min 28 sec | 27 min 19 sec |
Why the text itself changes the time
The gap between fiction and non-fiction is not mainly about interest. The review attributes much of it to word length: non-fiction uses longer words, and longer words take longer to read. That is the same thing a readability formula measures. The readability checker counts syllables per word and words per sentence to produce Flesch and grade-level scores, so a text that scores as hard is, by and large, a text of long words and long sentences, and it will sit toward the slow end of the range above. Short words and short sentences move it toward the fast end. The scores do not give you a precise rate, but they tell you which direction to adjust.
Layout counts too, in a way you can check yourself: the character counter shows characters as well as words, and a 1,000-word text of 6,500 characters is a different read from one of 5,000 characters, because the first is built from longer words.
The rate you need to finish in time
Turn the formula around and you get the words per minute needed to read a given text in a given time. Anything above 320 words per minute, marked with an asterisk, is faster than the range the review reports for adults, which means you would be skimming rather than reading.
| Words | 3 min | 5 min | 10 min | 15 min | 30 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | 167 wpm | 100 wpm | 50 wpm | 33 wpm | 17 wpm |
| 1,000 | 333* wpm | 200 wpm | 100 wpm | 67 wpm | 33 wpm |
| 1,500 | 500* wpm | 300 wpm | 150 wpm | 100 wpm | 50 wpm |
| 2,000 | 667* wpm | 400* wpm | 200 wpm | 133 wpm | 67 wpm |
| 3,000 | 1,000* wpm | 600* wpm | 300 wpm | 200 wpm | 100 wpm |
| 5,000 | 1,667* wpm | 1,000* wpm | 500* wpm | 333* wpm | 167 wpm |
Read it as a planning table. 2,000 words in 10 minutes needs 200 words per minute, which is a comfortable pace for most adults. 5,000 words in 15 minutes needs 333, which is above the range, so a 15-minute slot is not enough for a 5,000-word briefing unless people skip parts of it.
Measuring your own rate
- Pick a text you would normally read, not a test passage. Paste it into the word counter to get the exact word count.
- Start the stopwatch, read at your usual pace, and stop when you finish.
- Divide words by minutes. 1,000 words in 3 minutes 30 seconds is 1,000 ÷ 3.50 = 286 words per minute.
- Repeat with a different kind of text. Your rate for a novel and your rate for a contract will not match, and neither is wrong.
Which rate to use
- Articles, reports, documentation: 238 words per minute. This is what the word counter uses.
- Stories and novels: 260 words per minute.
- Anything read out loud, including scripts: 183 words per minute for plain reading aloud, or a speaking pace from the script timer for a performed script.
- A mixed or unknown audience: quote a range from the table rather than one number. "4 to 6 minutes" is more honest for 1,000 words than "4 minutes".
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read 1,000 words?
About 4 min 12 sec of silent reading for an article or a report, at the 238 words per minute that a 2019 review of 190 studies found for adults reading English non-fiction. A short story reads a little faster, 3 min 51 sec at 260 words per minute. Reading the same 1,000 words aloud takes about 5 min 28 sec at 183 words per minute.
How long does it take to read 2,000 words?
8 min 24 sec silently at 238 words per minute, 7 min 42 sec for fiction at 260, and 10 min 56 sec aloud at 183. Every number doubles from the 1,000-word figures because reading time is simply words divided by rate.
Is 300 words per minute a good reading speed?
It is at the top of the range the review reports for ordinary adult reading. Most adults fall between 175 and 300 words per minute for non-fiction and between 200 and 320 for fiction. Faster than that usually means skipping words, which is a different activity from reading.
Why is reading aloud slower than reading silently?
Reading aloud is limited by how fast you can speak, so the review puts it at 183 words per minute against 238 for silent reading. Silent readers do not have to pronounce every word. That is also why a script for a video or a speech is timed with a speaking rate, not a reading rate.
How do I find my own reading speed?
Take a text with a known word count, time yourself reading it at a normal pace, and divide the words by the minutes. 1,000 words in 3 minutes 30 seconds is 286 words per minute. Do it with a text you would actually read, because a children's story and a tax form give different numbers.