How long does it take to read Harry Potter?
J.K. Rowling · 7 books
At an average reading speed of 250 words a minute, all 7 books of Harry Potter take about 72 hours to read. The unabridged audiobooks run 125 hours at 1x, or 83 hours at 1.5x.
The series grows with its readers. Philosopher's Stone is a short children's novel; Order of the Phoenix is more than three times its length, and the last four books together make up three-quarters of the series. Most people who stall out do it in book five.
Average is about 250 WPM. Measure yours in two minutes and every time on this page recalculates.
Every book, timed
| Book | Words | Read | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | 76,944 | 5h 8m | 8h 25m |
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | 85,141 | 5h 41m | 9h 43m |
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | 107,253 | 7h 9m | 12h 3m |
| Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | 190,637 | 12h 43m | 20h 54m |
| Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | 257,045 | 17h 8m | 29h 1m |
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | 168,923 | 11h 16m | 20h 31m |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | 198,227 | 13h 13m | 23h 59m |
How much to read a day
At 250 words a minute, to finish the whole series:
Have a deadline in mind? The pages-per-day calculator works it out for any date.
How we measured it
Method: published word counts. Word counts are the widely published per-book figures, cross-checked against Stephen Fry's unabridged recordings, which run at a steady 150-odd words a minute. US editions use the title Sorcerer's Stone; the text is the same length.
Part of our study of the 100 most popular books, last checked October 2026. Reading times assume steady reading; editions, translations and your own pace all move them.
See how long it really takes you
Log each book in Parch as you read. It tracks your pages, sessions and streak, so you'll know your real pace, and how long the next one will take.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read Harry Potter?
About 72 hours at an average reading speed of 250 words a minute: 90 hours at 200 and 60 hours at 300. That covers all 7 books, from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
How many words are in Harry Potter?
1.1 million words across 7 books. The longest is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (257,045); the shortest is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (76,944).
How many pages a day to finish Harry Potter in a month?
About 132 pages a day, or 2h 25m of reading a day at an average pace. That assumes about 3,942 pages at 275 words a page; real page counts vary by edition.
Which Harry Potter book is the longest?
Order of the Phoenix, at about 257,000 words: around 17 hours of reading at an average pace, or 29 hours as an audiobook. Philosopher's Stone is the shortest at about 77,000 words.
Is the Stephen Fry or Jim Dale audiobook longer?
They're close. Both are unabridged, so the difference is pace, not content. This page uses Fry's recordings because they're the ones sold on Audible in most of the world.