The .position() method gets the position of an element relative to the offset parent or gets the absolute position of the element. Also check jQuery .offset().
JS:
<script>
$(function(){
    var position = $('.target').position();
    $('.target').append( ": left=" + position.left + ", top=" + position.top );
    
    var position_absolute = $('.target-absolute').position();
    $('.target-absolute').append( ": left=" + position_absolute.left + ", top=" + position_absolute.top );
});
</script>
css:
<style>
.parent {
    padding:20px;
    margin:8px;
}
.target {
    margin:15px;
    padding:3px;
}
.parent-relative {
    position:relative;
}
.target-absolute {
    margin:20px;
    padding:3px;
    position:absolute;
    left:10px;
    top:5px;
}
</style>
html:
<div class="parent"><h3 class="target">get position relative to the offset parent with jQuery</h3></div> <div class="parent-relative"><h3 class="target-absolute">get absolute position of the element with jQuery</h3></div>