Fact · Transcription
175minutes
A one-hour recording at a 150 words per minute speaking rate holds about 9,000 words, which takes about 175 minutes to type at the 51.56 words per minute online average.
Checked against its source on October 17, 2026
- What it measures
- The 150 words per minute speaking rate and the 51.56 words per minute typing mean come from different studies and different samples, so the result is a rough comparison, not a measurement of any one transcriptionist.
- How it is calculated
- 60 minutes x 150 words per minute = 9,000 words; 9,000 / 51.56 words per minute = 174.6, rounded to 175
- What it does not show
- Typing speed varies widely across typists (the standard deviation in the source is 20.2 words per minute), and a transcriptionist also has to listen, replay and check, so the real time is longer. The source gives 140 to 180 words per minute for audiobook narration and uses 150 as the speech rate, so a conversation with pauses and overlapping speakers may run at a different rate.
Calculated from
Used to calculate
- At the top of Rev's transcriptionist range, an audio hour pays about $22.63 for each hour of typing at average speed, before any listening, replay or checking.
- At the bottom of Rev's transcriptionist range, an audio hour pays about $8.23 for each hour of typing at average speed, before any listening, replay or checking.