margin-top

The margin-top CSS property sets the margin area on the top of an element. A positive value places it farther from its neighbors, while a negative value places it closer.

{{InteractiveExample("CSS Demo: margin-top")}}

margin-top: 1em;

margin-top: 10%;

margin-top: 10px;

margin-top: 0;

<section id="default-example">
  <div id="container">
    <div class="row"></div>
    <div class="row transition-all" id="example-element"></div>
    <div class="row"></div>
  </div>
</section>

#container {
  width: 300px;
  height: 200px;
  display: flex;
  align-content: flex-start;
  flex-direction: column;
  justify-content: flex-start;
}

.row {
  height: 33.33%;
  display: inline-block;
  border: solid #ce7777 10px;
  background-color: #2b3a55;
  flex-shrink: 0;
}

#example-element {
  border: solid 10px #ffbf00;
  background-color: #2b3a55;
}

This property has no effect on non-replaced inline elements, such as {{HTMLElement("span")}} or {{HTMLElement("code")}}.

Syntax

/* <length> values */
margin-top: 10px; /* An absolute length */
margin-top: 1em; /* relative to the text size */
margin-top: 5%; /* relative to the nearest block container's width */
margin-top: anchor-size(height);
margin-top: calc(anchor-size(--my-anchor self-inline, 25px) / 4);

/* Keyword values */
margin-top: auto;

/* Global values */
margin-top: inherit;
margin-top: initial;
margin-top: revert;
margin-top: revert-layer;
margin-top: unset;

The margin-top property is specified as the keyword auto, or a <length>, or a <percentage>. Its value can be positive, zero, or negative.

Values

• {{cssxref("<length>")}}

  • : The size of the margin as a fixed value.
    • For anchor-positioned elements, the {{cssxref("anchor-size()")}} function resolves to a {{cssxref("<length>")}} value relative to the associated anchor element's width or height (see Setting element margin based on anchor size).

• {{cssxref("<percentage>")}}

  • : The size of the margin as a percentage, relative to the inline size (width in a horizontal language, defined by {{cssxref("writing-mode")}}) of the containing block.

• auto

  • : The browser selects a suitable value to use. See {{cssxref("margin")}}.

Formal definition

{{cssinfo}}

Formal syntax

{{csssyntax}}

Examples

Setting positive and negative top margins

.content {
  margin-top: 5%;
}
.side-box {
  margin-top: 10px;
}
.logo {
  margin-top: -5px;
}
#footer {
  margin-top: 1em;
}

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also

• {{cssxref("margin-right")}}, {{cssxref("margin-bottom")}}, and {{cssxref("margin-left")}}
• {{cssxref("margin")}} shorthand
• {{cssxref("margin-block-start")}}, {{cssxref("margin-block-end")}}, {{cssxref("margin-inline-start")}}, and {{cssxref("margin-inline-end")}}
• {{cssxref("margin-block")}} and {{cssxref("margin-inline")}} shorthands
• CSS box model module