By Lumen Editorial Team · Published 2026-10-27
Updated 2026-10-27
By the Lumen Editorial Team · Updated 21 October 2026
For adults reading silently in English, the average is about 238 words per minute (wpm) for non-fiction and 260 wpm for fiction, according to a 2019 meta-analysis. Most adults fall between roughly 175 and 300 wpm on non-fiction. A good speed is one you can sustain while understanding what you read.
Marc Brysbaert's paper "How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate" (Journal of Memory and Language, 2019) pooled many earlier studies of adult reading. It reports an average silent reading rate of 238 wpm for non-fiction and 260 wpm for fiction, and an oral reading rate of 183 wpm.
The author also notes these figures are lower than the numbers often quoted in popular and scientific writing. He argues that setting a target of 300 wpm is unrealistic for the majority of people.
| Text type | Typical adult rate (English) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Non-fiction, silent | 238 wpm average; most adults 175 to 300 | Brysbaert (2019) |
| Fiction, silent | 260 wpm average; most adults 200 to 320 | Brysbaert (2019) |
| Reading aloud | 183 wpm average | Brysbaert (2019) |
Two cautions. These are averages for English only, so do not assume they hold for other languages. And they are for reading for comprehension, not skimming. Your own speed will shift with topic, difficulty, language and tiredness.
Here is a test you can do now with a book or article, no app needed.
Do it with two kinds of text, for example a news article and a novel, and compare. A single run is noisy, so average three.
Worked example (illustrative numbers, not data). Say three lines of your passage hold 11, 12 and 10 words. That is 33 words, or 11 per line on average. You read 22 lines in the minute, so 11 x 22 = 242 wpm. You then recall the main point and both details, so the run counts. Your second run on a novel gives 275 wpm with the main point recalled, and your third on a dense report gives 190 wpm but you missed one detail. Averaged, that is about 236 wpm. It sits close to the published non-fiction average, but the useful part is the spread: the novel and the report differ by roughly 85 wpm, which tells you your pace depends on the text more than on you.
Keep a note of each run (date, text type, wpm, whether you recalled the point). After two or three weeks that note tells you more than any single number.
Your number is not fixed. Text difficulty, unfamiliar vocabulary, how interested you are, the screen or page you read from, and tiredness all move it. So does your purpose: reading to find a fact is quicker than reading to remember. This is why a single score is a snapshot. Compare like with like, such as the same kind of text at the same time of day, and look at the trend across several readings rather than one result. Reading below the average is fine. The averages come from pooled studies of adults, and the ranges in the table show how wide normal is: on non-fiction, from about 175 to 300 wpm. Slow, careful reading is often the right pace for contracts, study material or a language you are still learning. The aim is not to hit a number but to know your pace on each kind of text, so you can choose a pace on purpose.
No. A speed number means nothing without comprehension. The 2016 review by Rayner and colleagues found that faster reading trades against understanding; we cover it in does speed reading actually work?. A pace you can keep while recalling the main points is the useful number.
A paper-and-timer test is rough. In Lumen's baseline test you read a passage and answer questions, and the app records both your words per minute and your comprehension score. That gives you a starting point to compare later sessions against. Read how the training is grounded on our science page, or take the baseline from the Lumen home page.
What is the average adult silent reading speed? 238 wpm for non-fiction and 260 wpm for fiction in English, per Brysbaert (2019).
Is 300 words per minute a realistic target? Brysbaert argues it is unrealistic for most people.
Is reading aloud slower than silent reading? Yes. The same review puts oral reading at 183 wpm.
Does a high words-per-minute number mean I read well? No. Measure comprehension alongside pace.
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. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047