`margin-top` CSS property

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It's been available across browsers since July 2015.

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.

This property has no effect on non-replaced inline elements, such as <span> or <code>.

Try it

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;
}

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

<length>

The size of the margin as a fixed value.

For anchor-positioned elements, the anchor-size() function resolves to a <length> value relative to the associated anchor element's width or height (see Setting element margin based on anchor size).

<percentage>

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

auto

The browser selects a suitable value to use. See margin.

Formal definition

Initial value	0
Applies to	all elements, except elements with table `display` types other than <code>table-caption</code>, <code>table</code> and <code>inline-table</code>
Inherited	no
Percentages	refer to the width of the containing block
Computed value	the percentage as specified or the absolute length
Animation type	a <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Values/length#interpolation" title="Values of the <length> CSS data type are interpolated as real, floating-point numbers.">length</a>

Formal syntax

margin-top = 
  <length-percentage> |
  auto |
  <anchor-size()>

<length-percentage> = 
  <length> |
  <percentage>

<anchor-size()> = 
  anchor-size( [ <anchor-name> || <anchor-size> ]? , <length-percentage>? )

<anchor-name> = 
  <dashed-ident>

<anchor-size> = 
  width |
  height |
  block |
  inline |
  self-block |
  self-inline

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

Specification
CSS Box Model Module Level 3 # margin-physical

Browser compatibility

	Desktop					Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Opera	Safari	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet	WebView Android	WebView on iOS
`margin-top`	1	12	1	3.5	1	18	4	10.1	1	1.0	4.4	1
`anchor-size`	132	132	147	117	26	132	147	87	26	29.0	132	26
`auto`	1	12 The `auto` value is not supported in quirks mode.	1	3.5	1	18	4	14	1	1.0	37	1