At what speed does the Sun orbit the Galactic Center, in km/s?

The Sun orbits the Galactic Center at roughly 220 km/s. That is about 792,000 kilometers per hour, although modern measurements and conventions commonly quote a nearby value of approximately 230 km/s.

The Sun is not traveling through empty space in a straight line. The entire Solar System follows a broad orbit around the Milky Way’s center, carrying Earth and the other planets with it. One complete revolution takes roughly 220–250 million years, a span sometimes called a galactic year.

The quoted speed is an average orbital speed because the Milky Way is not a perfectly uniform system. The Sun also has a smaller motion relative to nearby stars, and its path includes subtle oscillations around the Galaxy’s mid-plane. These details explain why different references may give values such as 220, 230, or slightly different figures.

The answer should not be confused with the speed of light, the Solar System’s motion through the cosmic microwave background, or the much faster orbital speeds of objects very close to the Galactic Center.