vertical-align

The vertical-align CSS property specifies the vertical alignment of an inline or table-cell box.

/* 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: unset;

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

• to vertically align an inline element's box inside its containing line box. For example, it could be used to vertically align an <img> in a line of text:

<p>
top:<img style="vertical-align:top" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/15189/star.png"/> 
middle:<img style="vertical-align:middle" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/15189/star.png"/> 
bottom:<img style="vertical-align:bottom" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/15189/star.png"/> 
super:<img style="vertical-align:super" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/15189/star.png"/> 
sub:<img style="vertical-align:sub" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/15189/star.png"/> 
</p>
<p>
text-top:<img style="vertical-align:text-top" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/15189/star.png"/> 
text-bottom:<img  style="vertical-align:text-bottom" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/15189/star.png"/>
0.2em:<img style="vertical-align:0.2em" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/15189/star.png"/> 
-1em:<img  style="vertical-align:-1em" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/15189/star.png"/>
20%:<img style="vertical-align:20%" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/15189/star.png"/> 
-100%:<img  style="vertical-align:-100%" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/15189/star.png"/>
</p>

#* {
  box-sizing: border-box;
}
img {
  margin-right: 0.5em;
}
p {
  height: 3em;
  padding: 0 .5em;
  font-family: monospace;
  text-decoration: underline overline;
  margin-left: auto;
  margin-right: auto;
  width: 80%;
}

• to vertically align the content of a cell in a table:

<table>
  <tr>
    <td style="vertical-align: baseline">baseline</td>
    <td style="vertical-align: top">top</td>
    <td style="vertical-align: middle">middle</td>
    <td style="vertical-align: bottom">bottom</td>
    <td>
      <p>There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.</p>
<p>There is another theory which states that this has already happened.</p>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

table {
  margin-left: auto;
  margin-right: auto;
  width: 80%;
}
table, th, td {
  border: 1px solid black;
}
td {
  padding: 0.5em;
  font-family: monospace;
}

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

Syntax

This property is specified as one of the keyword values listed below.

Values (for inline elements)

Most of the 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 change from one browser to the other.

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 at the given length above the baseline of its parent.

<percentage>

Like <length> values, with the percentage being a percent of the line-height property.

(Negative values are allowed for <length> and <percentage>.)

The following two values vertically align the element relative to the entire line rather than relative to its parent:

top

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

bottom

Align 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>)

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

top

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

middle

Center the padding box of the cell within the row.

bottom

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

Negative values are allowed.

Formal syntax

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

Example

HTML

<div>An <img src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/12245/frame_image.svg" alt="link" width="32" height="32" /> image with a default alignment.</div>
<div>An <img class="top" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/12245/frame_image.svg" alt="link" width="32" height="32" /> image with a text-top alignment.</div>
<div>An <img class="bottom" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/12245/frame_image.svg" alt="link" width="32" height="32" /> image with a text-bottom alignment.</div>
<div>An <img class="middle" src="https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/12245/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; }

Output

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• line-height, text-align, margin
• Understanding vertical-align, or "How (Not) To Vertically Center Content"
• All You Need To Know About Vertical-Align