How Long Does It Take to Read The Outsiders?
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton (1967) runs about 48,000 words — roughly 180 pages in a standard paperback. At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, that is 3 hours and 22 minutes of reading. The tables below break it down by pace and by daily reading sessions, and you can calculate reading time for any book or test how well you know this one with the Outsiders book quiz.
Reading time by speed
| Reading pace | Time to finish The Outsiders |
|---|---|
| Slow (150 wpm) | 5 hours and 20 minutes |
| Average (238 wpm) | 3 hours and 22 minutes |
| Fast (350 wpm) | 2 hours and 17 minutes |
| Speed reader (450 wpm) | 1 hour and 47 minutes |
Reading in daily sessions
Prefer a nightly page goal? Here is how long the book lasts as a daily habit:
| Session length | Days to finish |
|---|---|
| 15 minutes per day | 14 days |
| 30 minutes per day | 7 days |
| 60 minutes per day | 4 days |
Where the numbers come from
The average adult reads 238 words per minute for non-fiction and around 238–300 wpm for easy fiction, according to Marc Brysbaert’s 2019 meta-analysis of 190 reading-rate studies — the number most reading-time tools use. The Outsiders’s word count (48,000) is an estimate for a standard text or translation; translations and editions vary, so treat both word and page counts as planning figures. For a custom edition or your own pace, the reading time calculator does the math for any word count.
Is The Outsiders hard to read?
Easy — short sentences, young-adult pace; the emotional weight sits under plain words.
Ponyboy Curtis and his greaser friends carry a running war with the Socs, the rich kids across town — until one night a fight goes too far and Ponyboy and Johnny run. The novel every American middle-schooler meets, and the one that stays. Think you know it already? Take the Outsiders book quiz — eight questions, two minutes — or see how you do on the full mixed-classics book quiz.
A realistic pace plan for The Outsiders
Numbers help, but habits finish books. At 30 minutes a day — one coffee break or one commute — you are done in 7 days. Prefer the one-sitting test? You would need about 3 hours and 22 minutes in a single stretch, which most readers split over a weekend. And if you read 18 pages a night, the book lasts roughly 10 nights — the point is that a 180-page classic shrinks fast once the session is fixed. Readers who finish long books almost never “find time”; they pick the session size first and let the days accumulate.
Your pace may vary from chapter to chapter, especially when the language or ideas are unfamiliar. Leave a little room in your plan for slower passages. When you turn the last page, the Outsiders book quiz is a quick way to see how much stayed with you.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read The Outsiders?
At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, The Outsiders takes about 3 hours and 22 minutes. At a fast 350 wpm it is 2 hours and 17 minutes; a slow, careful 150 wpm reader needs about 5 hours and 20 minutes.
How many pages is The Outsiders?
About 180 pages in a standard paperback edition — editions vary, so treat it as a close estimate.
How many words is The Outsiders?
Approximately 48,000 words, the figure used for every calculation on this page.
Is The Outsiders hard to read?
Easy — short sentences, young-adult pace; the emotional weight sits under plain words.
Is The Outsiders worth the time?
Ponyboy Curtis and his greaser friends carry a running war with the Socs, the rich kids across town — until one night a fight goes too far and Ponyboy and Johnny run. If that sounds like your kind of book, 3 hours and 22 minutes is a reasonable price for one of the most-read titles in its genre — and the quiz linked above tells you whether an earlier read already stuck.
What reading level is The Outsiders?
About Grades 6-8, typically read by ages 11+. The suggested age is a guide; reading experience varies from person to person.
How long other classics take
Counting sessions instead of hours? The Outsiders has 12 chapters, about 4,000 words each. Every title on the shelf is timed the same way in how long to read: 133 classics, timed — from Animal Farm’s single afternoon to War and Peace’s two-week campaign. For scale, The Outsiders is the 103rd longest of the 133 classics timed here — shorter than A Wrinkle in Time but longer than The Great Gatsby.
Planning a whole-author project? The S. E. Hinton books in order guide lists the full shelf in reading order.