Most people have no idea how fast they actually read. You pick up a book, you start reading, and at some point you either finish it or you don't. Speed rarely comes into the picture.
But knowing your reading speed is surprisingly useful. It helps you estimate how long a book will take, plan your reading time realistically, and figure out whether you can actually finish that 400-page novel before your book club meets next Thursday.
So: how fast do you read?
The average adult reading speed
Most adults read between 200 and 300 words per minute. The commonly cited average is around 250 words per minute for non-fiction read silently, with good comprehension.
That sounds fast until you realize what it means in practice. An average novel has around 80,000 words. At 250 words per minute, reading for 30 minutes a day, it takes you about 18 days to finish it. That's just over two and a half weeks for one book, which tracks for most readers who aren't speeding through pages every evening.
Reading speed by age and level
Reading speed isn't fixed. It develops over time and varies a lot depending on the material and the reader.
Here's a rough overview:
| Reader | Average WPM |
|---|---|
| Child (6–7 years) | 50–100 wpm |
| Young reader (8–12 years) | 100–200 wpm |
| Average adult | 200–300 wpm |
| College student | 300–350 wpm |
| Fast reader | 400–700 wpm |
| Speed reader | 1,000+ wpm |
Keep in mind: speed without comprehension isn't reading. If you're flying through a page but retaining nothing, that's skimming. It has its place, but it's not the same thing.
What affects your reading speed?
A few things make a big difference:
The text itself. Dense academic writing, technical manuals, or unfamiliar vocabulary will slow you down. A gripping thriller you're reading for pleasure? You'll move faster almost automatically.
Your familiarity with the subject. The more you know about a topic, the quicker your brain processes the words. Experts in a field read texts in that field significantly faster than non-experts.
Subvocalization. Most of us silently "say" words in our heads as we read. It's a natural habit that helps with comprehension, but it also caps your reading speed at roughly speaking speed, around 150-200 wpm. Reducing subvocalization is one of the core techniques speed readers use.
Eye movement. Your eyes don't glide smoothly across a line. They jump from point to point in short bursts called saccades. Each jump takes time. Reducing the number of jumps by widening your visual focus is another way to read faster.
How to find your actual reading speed
You can test yourself the old-fashioned way: set a timer for one minute, read normally, count the words. But that's a bit tedious.
A more interesting way is using RSVP (Rapid Serial Visual Presentation). Instead of words on a page, each word appears one at a time in the same spot. Your eyes don't need to move at all. You start at a comfortable speed and adjust until you find your limit.
That's exactly what the How Fast Can I Read? tool on this site does. Start at 250 wpm (the average) and see how it feels. Comfortable? Slide it up. Losing the thread? Dial it back. The sweet spot is your reading speed.
It's a quick, honest way to find out where you actually stand.
Should you try to read faster?
It depends on what you want from reading.
If you're working through a reading list and want to read more books per year, improving your speed makes sense. Even getting from 200 to 280 wpm means you finish books significantly faster without feeling rushed.
If you're reading for depth, think philosophy, poetry, dense non-fiction, slower is often better. You want ideas to land. You want to pause and think. Speed is irrelevant.
Most readers benefit from being a little more intentional about speed: reading fast when they want to cover ground, slowing down when the material deserves it.
A note on "speed reading"
Speed reading courses promise 1,000, 2,000, even 3,000 wpm with full comprehension. Research doesn't really back this up. Studies consistently find that comprehension drops significantly at very high speeds. What speed readers often do is skilled skimming: extracting key information rather than reading every word.
That's not useless. But it's worth being honest about what it is.
For most people, the goal isn't to read at superhuman speed. It's to read more consistently, finish more books, and actually enjoy the process. Getting clear on your current reading speed is a good place to start.
Curious where you land? Try the How Fast Can I Read? tool. It takes about two minutes and gives you a real sense of your reading pace.