margin-bottom

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.

* Some parts of this feature may have varying levels of support.

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

Try it

margin-bottom: 1em;

margin-bottom: 10%;

margin-bottom: 10px;

margin-bottom: 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; }

The effect of the CSS margin-bottom property on the element box

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

Syntax

css

/* <length> values */ margin-bottom: 10px; /* An absolute length */ margin-bottom: 1em; /* relative to the text size */ margin-bottom: 5%; /* relative to the nearest block container's width */ margin-bottom: anchor-size(width); margin-bottom: calc(anchor-size(--my-anchor self-block, 20px) / 3); /* Keyword values */ margin-bottom: auto; /* Global values */ margin-bottom: inherit; margin-bottom: initial; margin-bottom: revert; margin-bottom: revert-layer; margin-bottom: unset;

The margin-bottom 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 `table-caption`, `table` and `inline-table`. It also applies to `::first-letter`.
Inherited	no
Percentages	refer to the width of the containing block
Computed value	the percentage as specified or the absolute length
Animation type	a length

Formal syntax

margin-bottom = 
 <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 bottom margins

HTML

html

<div class="container"> <div class="box0">Box 0</div> <div class="box1">Box 1</div> <div class="box2">Box one's negative margin pulls me up</div> </div>

CSS

CSS for divs to set margin-bottom and height

css

.box0 { margin-bottom: 1em; height: 3em; } .box1 { margin-bottom: -1.5em; height: 4em; } .box2 { border: 1px dashed black; border-width: 1px 0; margin-bottom: 2em; }

Some definitions for container and divs so margins' effects can be seen more clearly

css

.container { background-color: orange; width: 320px; border: 1px solid black; } div { width: 320px; background-color: gold; }

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Box Model Module Level 3 # margin-physical

Browser compatibility

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This page was last modified on ⁨Oct 30, 2025⁩ by MDN contributors.

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