`vertical-align` CSS property

The vertical-align CSS shorthand property sets the vertical alignment of an inline, inline-block, or table-cell box.

Constituent properties

This property is a shorthand for the following CSS properties:

• alignment-baseline
• baseline-source
• baseline-shift

Try it

vertical-align: baseline;

vertical-align: top;

vertical-align: middle;

vertical-align: bottom;

vertical-align: sub;

vertical-align: text-top;

<section class="default-example" id="default-example">
  <p>
    Align the star:
    <img id="example-element" src="/shared-assets/images/examples/star2.png" />
  </p>
</section>

#default-example > p {
  line-height: 3em;
  font-family: monospace;
  font-size: 1.2em;
  text-decoration: underline overline;
}

The vertical-align property can be used in two contexts:

• To vertically align an inline-level element's box inside its containing line box. For example, it could be used to vertically position an image in a line of text.
• To vertically align the content of a cell in a table.

Use this shorthand (vertical-align) instead of its corresponding longhand properties, unless you need to cascade them independently or (on SVG elements) to support legacy SVG implementations.

Note that vertical-align only applies to inline, inline-block and table-cell elements: you can't use it to vertically align block-level elements.

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
vertical-align: baseline;
vertical-align: sub;
vertical-align: super;
vertical-align: text-top;
vertical-align: text-bottom;
vertical-align: middle;
vertical-align: top;
vertical-align: bottom;

/* <length> values */
vertical-align: 10em;
vertical-align: 4px;

/* <percentage> values */
vertical-align: 20%;

/* Global values */
vertical-align: inherit;
vertical-align: initial;
vertical-align: revert;
vertical-align: revert-layer;
vertical-align: unset;

The vertical-align property is specified as one of the values listed below.

Values for inline elements

Parent-relative values

These values vertically align the element relative to its parent element:

baseline

Aligns the baseline of the element with the baseline of its parent. The baseline of some replaced elements, like <textarea>, is not specified by the HTML specification, meaning that their behavior with this keyword may vary between browsers.

sub

Aligns the baseline of the element with the subscript-baseline of its parent.

super

Aligns the baseline of the element with the superscript-baseline of its parent.

text-top

Aligns the top of the element with the top of the parent element's font.

text-bottom

Aligns the bottom of the element with the bottom of the parent element's font.

middle

Aligns the middle of the element with the baseline plus half the x-height of the parent.

<length>

Aligns the baseline of the element to the given length above the baseline of its parent. A negative value is allowed.

<percentage>

Aligns the baseline of the element to the given percentage above the baseline of its parent, with the value being a percentage of the line-height property. A negative value is allowed.

Line-relative values

The following values vertically align the element relative to the entire line:

top

Aligns the top of the element and its descendants with the top of the entire line.

bottom

Aligns the bottom of the element and its descendants with the bottom of the entire line.

For elements that do not have a baseline, the bottom margin edge is used instead.

Values for table cells

baseline (and sub, super, text-top, text-bottom, <length>, and <percentage>)

Aligns the baseline of the cell with the baseline of all other cells in the row that are baseline-aligned.

top

Aligns the top padding edge of the cell with the top of the row.

middle

Centers the padding box of the cell within the row.

bottom

Aligns the bottom padding edge of the cell with the bottom of the row.

Negative values are allowed.

Formal definition

Formal syntax

vertical-align = 
  baseline |
  sub |
  super |
  text-top |
  text-bottom |
  middle |
  top |
  bottom |
  <percentage> |
  <length>

Examples

Basic example

HTML

<div>
  An <img src="frame_image.svg" alt="link" width="32" height="32" /> image with
  a default alignment.
</div>
<div>
  An
  <img class="top" src="frame_image.svg" alt="link" width="32" height="32" />
  image with a text-top alignment.
</div>
<div>
  An
  <img class="bottom" src="frame_image.svg" alt="link" width="32" height="32" />
  image with a text-bottom alignment.
</div>
<div>
  An
  <img class="middle" src="frame_image.svg" alt="link" width="32" height="32" />
  image with a middle alignment.
</div>

CSS

img.top {
  vertical-align: text-top;
}
img.bottom {
  vertical-align: text-bottom;
}
img.middle {
  vertical-align: middle;
}

Result

Vertical alignment in a line box

HTML

<p>
top:         <img style="vertical-align: top" src="star.png" alt="star"/>
middle:      <img style="vertical-align: middle" src="star.png" alt="star"/>
bottom:      <img style="vertical-align: bottom" src="star.png" alt="star"/>
super:       <img style="vertical-align: super" src="star.png" alt="star"/>
sub:         <img style="vertical-align: sub" src="star.png" alt="star"/>
</p>

<p>
text-top:    <img style="vertical-align: text-top" src="star.png" alt="star"/>
text-bottom: <img style="vertical-align: text-bottom" src="star.png" alt="star"/>
0.2em:       <img style="vertical-align: 0.2em" src="star.png" alt="star"/>
-1em:        <img style="vertical-align: -1em" src="star.png" alt="star"/>
20%:         <img style="vertical-align: 20%" src="star.png" alt="star"/>
-100%:       <img style="vertical-align: -100%" src="star.png" alt="star"/>
</p>

#* {
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

img {
  margin-right: 0.5em;
}

p {
  height: 3em;
  padding: 0 0.5em;
  font-family: monospace;
  text-decoration: underline overline;
  margin-left: auto;
  margin-right: auto;
  width: 80%;
}

Result

Vertical alignment in a table cell

In this example, we have a table with a single row containing six cells. The row sets vertical-align to bottom as the default value.

• The first four cells each set their own vertical-align values, and these override the row's value.
• The fifth cell does not set any vertical-align value, so inherits the row's value.

The sixth cell is only used to ensure that the cells are tall enough to see the effect.

HTML

<table>
  <tbody>
    <tr class="bottom">
      <td class="baseline">baseline</td>
      <td class="top">top</td>
      <td class="middle">middle</td>
      <td>bottom</td>
      <td>Row's style</td>
      <td>
        Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse
        pretium felis eu sem mattis vulputate.
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

CSS

table {
  margin-left: auto;
  margin-right: auto;
  width: 80%;
}

table,
th,
td {
  border: 1px solid black;
}

td {
  padding: 0.5em;
  font-family: monospace;
}

.bottom {
  vertical-align: bottom;
}

.baseline {
  vertical-align: baseline;
}

.top {
  vertical-align: top;
}

.middle {
  vertical-align: middle;
}

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Typical use cases of flexbox, section "Center item"
• line-height, text-align, margin
• Understanding vertical-align, or "How (Not) To Vertically Center Content"
• Vertical-Align: All You Need To Know