How long does it take to read 500 pages?
9 hr 37 min for an average reader (238 words per minute, ~275 words a page).
500 pages is a long book. Reading 30 minutes a day, plan on roughly 20 days. Slow readers need about 13 hr 5 min; fast readers about 7 hr 38 min.
Your time for 500 pages
500 pages × 275 words ≈ 137,500 words ÷ 238 wpm. Measure your own speed
| Reader | Speed | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Slow / careful | 175 wpm | 13 hr 5 min |
| Reading aloud | 183 wpm | 12 hr 31 min |
| Average adult | 238 wpm | 9 hr 37 min |
| Fiction, average | 260 wpm | 8 hr 48 min |
| Fast reader | 300 wpm | 7 hr 38 min |
| Very fast | 400 wpm | 5 hr 43 min |
| Page type | Words/page | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Paperback novel | ~275 | 9 hr 37 min |
| Hardcover / large print | ~230 | 8 hr 3 min |
| Textbook / non-fiction | ~350 | 12 hr 15 min |
| Document, single-spaced | ~500 | 17 hr 30 min |
| Document, double-spaced | ~250 | 8 hr 45 min |
How this estimate works
Time = pages × words per page ÷ reading speed. A typical paperback page holds about 250–300 words, so we use 275. The 238 wpm average comes from a 2019 review of 190 reading studies by psychologist Marc Brysbaert; fiction is read a little faster, at about 260 wpm. Your real time also depends on the font, the page size and how dense the writing is, so treat it as a planning figure. To get a figure for you rather than the average, take the 60-second reading speed test; your result then appears as “My speed” in the calculator above.
Working in words instead of pages? Use the reading time calculator, or convert with words to pages.
Other book lengths
460 pages470 pages480 pages490 pages510 pages520 pages530 pages540 pages50 pages100 pages200 pages300 pages400 pagesAll lengths
Questions people ask
How long does it take to read 500 pages?
About 9 hr 37 min for an average adult reading silently at 238 words per minute, assuming a paperback page of about 275 words (137,500 words in total). A slower reader at 175 wpm needs about 13 hr 5 min; a fast reader at 300 wpm about 7 hr 38 min.
How many days to read 500 pages?
At 30 minutes of reading a day and an average speed, about 20 days. At an hour a day, about 10 days.
How many words are in 500 pages?
Roughly 137,500 words in a paperback (about 275 words a page). A single-spaced document page holds about 500 words, so 500 document pages is about 250,000 words.
How many pages can you read in an hour?
About 52 paperback pages at the average adult speed of 238 wpm, or about 28 single-spaced document pages. Dense textbooks go slower, often 20–30 pages an hour.