Fast talkers were possibly the prototypes for scammers – if it sounds too good to be true …. But a study conducted by e-learning platform Preply has examined a cross-section of cities and analysed transcripts of videos from news stations and podcasts to calculate the average words said per minute for each city. The things people do!
This is what they found.
The national average is 160 and the fastest-talking city is Hobart, with an average speech rate per minute of 194 words.
In second place is Darwin with an average of 182 words per minute. Third is Perth, with an average of 172 words per minute and in last place is Cairns with just 122 words. Possibly too tropical in far north Queensland?
The state with the slowest average speech rate is Queensland at 142 words per minute.
According to Preply, Australians speak an average of two syllables per second. It determined that for every 10 words uttered by a person in a slow-talking city, a person in a fast-talking one can say 16 words. You know you needed to know that.
The 10 fastest-talking cities
Hobart (average WPM: 194)
Darwin (average WPM: 182)
Perth (average WPM: 174)
Canberra (average WPM: 174)
Wagga Wagga (average WPM: 174)
Tamworth (average WPM: 172)
Bunbury (average WPM: 169)
Sydney (average WPM: 167)
Mount Gambier (average WPM: 163)
Melbourne (average WPM: 163)
The 10 slowest-talking cities
Cairns (average WPM: 122)
Adelaide (average WPM: 129)
Mackay (average WPM: 141)
Geraldton (average WPM: 145)
Alice Springs (average WPM: 153)
Ballarat (average WPM: 154)
Brisbane (average WPM: 160)
Melbourne (average WPM: 163)
Mount Gambier (average WPM: 163)
Sydney (average WPM: 167)
States ranked from fastest to slowest talkers:
Tasmania (average WPM: 194)
New South Wales (average WPM: 172)
Northern Territory (average WPM: 167)
Western Australia (average WPM: 163)
Victoria (average WPM: 159)
South Australia (average WPM: 146)
Do you fit your city or state average? Have you ever noticed that people from different cities or states speak differently?
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