Reading Statistics: Who Spends the Most Time Reading?
Published September 15, 2026 · StatsGalore
Average daily leisure reading time, calculated from 0.27 hours [1]
People age 15 and older averaged 0.27 hours of leisure reading per day in 2025, equivalent to 16.2 minutes. The American Time Use Survey shows substantial differences across age groups, with older adults recording more reading time than younger adults. [1]
The numbers
| Age group | Hours per day | Approximate minutes per day | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| All people age 15+ | 0.27 | 16.2 | [1] |
| 20–24 | 0.10 | 6.0 | [1] |
| 25–34 | 0.17 | 10.2 | [1] |
| 35–44 | 0.22 | 13.2 | [1] |
| 45–54 | 0.21 | 12.6 | [1] |
| 55–64 | 0.21 | 12.6 | [1] |
| 65–74 | 0.46 | 27.6 | [1] |
| 75+ | 0.62 | 37.2 | [1] |
A daily average is not a daily habit
The population average includes people who did no leisure reading on their diary day. It therefore answers how much reading time is recorded across the whole population, not how long readers spend reading when they pick up a book or article.
Someone who reads for a long stretch on a few days can contribute the same weekly amount as someone who reads briefly every day. The overall mean cannot distinguish those patterns. It also cannot tell us how many books people finish.
[1]The age pattern in the table
Adults age 75 and older recorded 0.62 hours a day, while those ages 20 to 24 recorded 0.10 hours. The published average for ages 65 to 74 was also above the national figure. These comparisons describe observed time use in the surveyed groups.
The pattern is consistent with reading occupying a different place in different daily schedules, but the table does not isolate a cause. Work, school, household duties, health, and access to other activities can all affect available time. Age alone should not be treated as an explanation of reading preferences.
[1]Leisure reading has a specific boundary
Reading done for school or a job can fall under educational or work activities instead of leisure. A low leisure-reading average does not mean people spend little time processing written information throughout the day.
Likewise, the figure is not a measure of literacy or reading ability. It measures time assigned to a particular activity. Comparing it with a books-read survey requires care because finishing books, reading print, and spending time reading are different outcomes.
[1]How the minute figures were calculated
Each hour figure is multiplied by 60 to produce the minutes column. This conversion makes the scale familiar while retaining the original reported values. The calculation should not be mistaken for a new survey estimate with greater precision.
The youngest age group's reading estimate is suppressed in the source table and is therefore omitted here. A suppressed value is unavailable under the source's publication rules; it is not a zero. Replacing it with zero would create an unsupported comparison.
[1]Sources & notes
Source: BLS ATUS Table 11A. These are means across all diary days, including days with no reading. Minutes are calculated from rounded hours. Reading related to school or work should not be inferred from this leisure measure.
The 2025 ATUS did not collect diaries for September 30–November 11 during the federal shutdown. Under the existing weighting method, later fourth-quarter diaries represent the missing days as well. See the BLS collection notice before making year-to-year comparisons.
Source review: 2026-09-15. Article publication and underlying data dates are separate. How we use statistics · Suggest a correction