Reading time calculator
Enter a book's pages and your reading speed. Get the hours it takes and the date you'll finish at the time you read each day.
Want this worked out for every book, from your real sessions? Get Pagehour on the App Store or Google Play.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time in minutes = pages × words per page ÷ words per minute. A 300-page book at 250 words a page and 238 words a minute takes about 5 h 15 min. Divide by the minutes you read each day to get the number of days, and count them forward from your start date to get the finish date.
| Pages | 200 wpm | 238 wpm | 260 wpm | 300 wpm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | 4 h 10 min | 3 h 30 min | 3 h 12 min | 2 h 47 min |
| 300 | 6 h 15 min | 5 h 15 min | 4 h 48 min | 4 h 10 min |
| 400 | 8 h 20 min | 7 h | 6 h 25 min | 5 h 33 min |
| 500 | 10 h 25 min | 8 h 45 min | 8 h 1 min | 6 h 57 min |
What is an average reading speed?
For adults reading silently in English, about 238 words a minute for non-fiction and 260 for fiction. That's the estimate from a 2019 review of 190 studies with 18,573 readers. Reading aloud averages 183 words a minute.
Individual speeds vary widely around those averages, so your own number beats any average. The reading speed test takes about four minutes and sends your result straight back to this calculator.
How many words are on a page?
It depends on the edition: font size, margins and page size all change it, so there's no single right number. The 250 above is only a starting assumption. For a real figure, count the words on three full lines, average them, and multiply by the lines on a full page.
If you don't want to count, switch the unit to pages per hour: time yourself for 15 minutes, count the pages you read, and multiply by four.
Why does Pagehour's finish date differ from this calculator?
This calculator assumes you read the same minutes every day. Pagehour uses what actually happened: your pages per day over the last 14 days, counting days you didn't read, so the date stays honest if you read every other day.
After each timed session Pagehour shows a line like “31 pages · 23 min · finish Oct 9” and updates it as your pace changes.
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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. Averages of 238 (non-fiction), 260 (fiction) and 183 (aloud) words per minute.
- Pagehour's finish-date rule: the app's pace code (14-day window, days without reading included), as of 28 September 2026.