The short answer: the average English speaker talks at about 150 words per minute, and a pace between roughly 130 and 160 works well in an interview. Speed is rarely the real problem, though. What makes an answer hard to follow is rushing through it without pauses, which nerves and memorized answers both cause. Aim for about 140 words per minute, pause between ideas, and finish each point before starting the next.
How many words per minute is normal?
Baruch College’s Tools for Clear Speech program, which coaches students on spoken English, puts the average English speaker at about 150 words per minute. For people who want to be easier to understand, it suggests speaking slightly slower than that, around 140.
| Pace | What it sounds like in an interview |
|---|---|
| Under 120 wpm | Deliberate. Fine for a key point, but a whole answer at this pace can sound hesitant. |
| 130–150 wpm | Calm and clear. A good target for most answers. |
| About 150 wpm | Average conversation. |
| 160 wpm | Brisk. Fine if you pause between ideas. |
| 180 wpm and up | Fast for an interview. It’s close to the average speed of reading aloud. |
That last row matters. A 2019 meta-analysis by the psychologist Marc Brysbaert found that, across 77 studies, adults read aloud at about 183 words per minute. A memorized answer is close to reading from memory, and it often comes out the same way: faster than conversation, and flatter.
How long should an interview answer be, in words?
At about 150 words per minute:
| Answer | Time | Words, roughly |
|---|---|---|
| A short factual answer | 30 seconds | 75 |
| “Tell me about yourself” | 60–90 seconds | 150–225 |
| A behavioral answer (STAR method) | 90 seconds–2 minutes | 225–300 |
| A one-way video interview answer | Often capped at 1–3 minutes | 150–450 |
So a two-minute answer is about one page of double-spaced notes, which is more than it sounds. If your written answer is 500 words, it’s a three-minute answer: cut it rather than speed it up.
How to measure your own pace
Baruch’s method takes five minutes:
- Pick a prompt you can talk about for at least a minute, such as “Tell me about your last job.”
- Record yourself for one minute on your phone.
- Count the words. A speech-to-text app makes this easy.
- That number is your words per minute. Repeat with two or three different prompts, because your pace changes with the topic.
Then do it once with a real interview question, under a bit of pressure. That’s the number that counts.
If you speak too fast
Baruch notes that nervousness commonly affects speaking rate, and that speech which is too fast is often harder to understand, not clearer. Signs you’re rushing: you run out of breath mid-sentence, you skip words, or the interviewer asks you to repeat something.
- Pause between ideas, not just between sentences. A one-second pause after the situation, after each action and before the result gives the interviewer time to take it in.
- Slow down the first sentence. It sets the pace for the rest.
- Use shorter sentences. Long, chained sentences (“and then… and then…”) speed up as they go.
- Know bullet points, not a script. Recited answers drift toward reading speed.
- Breathe before you start. A slow breath in, then begin.
If you speak too slowly
Less common in interviews, but it happens when people search for words or over-qualify every sentence.
- Prepare your stories so the content is there before the question is.
- Cut filler starts such as “So, basically, what I would say is…” and begin with the answer.
- Keep pauses short: Baruch notes that pausing too often or for too long can also make speech harder to understand.
On video interviews
On a video call or a one-way video interview, audio can lag or drop for a moment, so clear pauses matter even more than in person. If you’re recording (for HireVue or Spark Hire, for example), check your time limit and aim to finish with 15 or 20 seconds to spare rather than speeding up to fit.
Practicing your pace with Huru
Huru doesn’t measure your speaking rate. What it gives you is the practice around it:
- Questions for your role or the job posting, answered out loud on camera
- Playback of every answer, so you can hear your own pace and pauses
- A score out of 100 on relevance, structure, specificity, impact and articulation, with feedback on accuracy, grammar and confidence
- Progress over time, so you can see whether your answers are getting better
Frequently asked questions
How many words per minute should I speak in an interview?
Is 160 words per minute too fast?
How many words is a two-minute interview answer?
How do I stop talking too fast in an interview?
How do I measure my speaking rate?
Sources
- Baruch College, CUNY, Tools for Clear Speech, Speaking Rate. Read on 29 September 2026.
- Brysbaert, M., How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate, Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 2019.
