Get css top value as number not as string?

You can use the parseInt() function to convert the string to a number, e.g:

parseInt($('#elem').css('top'));

Update: (as suggested by Ben): You should give the radix too:

parseInt($('#elem').css('top'), 10);

Forces it to be parsed as a decimal number, otherwise strings beginning with ‘0’ might be parsed as an octal number (might depend on the browser used).