What is the average reading speed for adults?

About 238 words a minute for non-fiction and 260 for fiction, based on Brysbaert's 2019 review of 190 studies. Most adults fall between roughly 200 and 300 words a minute on ordinary prose, and the figure moves with how difficult and how familiar the material is.

Why do most reading time calculators use 300 words a minute?

Convention rather than evidence. 300 wpm is a round number that has been copied between tools for years. Because it is faster than adults actually read, every estimate built on it comes out about 20% short.

Is 300 words per minute a good reading speed?

It is above average rather than typical. Around 300 wpm puts you at the fast end of ordinary adult reading on straightforward prose. It is a perfectly good speed; it is just not the average, which is what a calculator needs.

Does reading speed change with the material?

Substantially. Dense non-fiction, unfamiliar subjects and anything you intend to remember all slow you down, while familiar genre fiction with a lot of dialogue speeds you up. A single number is an average across all of it, not a promise about the book in your hands.

Can you learn to read much faster than average?

You can improve, but not without limit. Rayner and colleagues (2016) found that reading far above normal rates costs comprehension, because the bottleneck is language processing rather than how fast the eyes move. Going from roughly 250 to 400 words a minute with practice is realistic; 1,000 words a minute with full understanding is not.

The evidence

What is the average reading speed?

Adults read silently at about 238 words a minute for non-fiction and about 260 for fiction, according to a 2019 review of 190 studies by Marc Brysbaert. Nearly every reading-time calculator assumes 300, which is why their estimates come out roughly 20% short.

Book	At 300 wpm	At 250 wpm	Difference
A 150-page novella	2h 18m	2h 45m	27m longer
A 300-page novel	4h 35m	5h 30m	55m longer
A 500-page novel	7h 38m	9h 10m	1h 32m longer
A 900-page epic	13h 45m	16h 30m	2h 45m longer

Where the 300 wpm number came from

Nobody measured it recently. 300 is a round number that has been copied from tool to tool for years, and once enough calculators agreed on it, agreeing became the reason to use it. It is convention, not evidence.

The evidence is newer and less convenient. Brysbaert's 2019 review pulled together 190 studies of reading rate and found silent reading of English prose running at about 238 words a minute for non-fiction and 260 for fiction. Both are well under the assumption, which means every estimate built on 300 tells you a book is shorter than it is.

We use 250 across this site. It sits between the two figures, it is slower than what you will see elsewhere, and it is closer to how people actually read. We would rather be the site that says a book takes longer and turns out to be right.

Reading speed by level

A single average hides a wide range. These bands are a realistic guide for adult prose rather than a scale to score yourself against.

Level	Speed	What it means
Developing	Under 200 wpm	Common with dense or unfamiliar material.
Average	200 to 300 wpm	Where most adults read silently.
Above average	300 to 400 wpm	The upper end of normal adult reading.
Fast	400 to 600 wpm	Rare outside easy or familiar prose.
Very fast	600+ wpm	Past what the research supports. Usually skimming.

Your own number is more useful than any of these. The speed reading test measures it and scales the result by comprehension, so skimming does not flatter the score.

Can you read faster than this?

Somewhat, and not without limit. Rayner and colleagues reviewed the evidence in 2016 and found that the ceiling is language processing rather than eye movement, so pushing far past a normal rate costs comprehension rather than saving time.

Moving from around 250 to 400 words a minute with practice is realistic. A thousand words a minute with full understanding is not, whatever the course selling it says.

Sources

Marc Brysbaert (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate.
Journal of Memory and Language
A review of 190 studies putting adult silent reading of English prose at about 238 words a minute for non-fiction and 260 for fiction.
Keith Rayner, Elizabeth R. Schotter, Michael E. J. Masson, Mary C. Potter and Rebecca Treiman (2016). So Much to Read, So Little Time: How Do We Read, and Can Speed Reading Help?.
Psychological Science in the Public Interest
A review finding that reading far above normal rates costs comprehension, because the limit is language processing rather than eye movement.

Where we use this

Every reading time on this site is computed at 250 words a minute, and every page says so.

Common questions

An average is a starting point, not your number.

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