Your kidneys are located just below the rib cage, one on each side of your spine. They sit toward the back of the abdominal cavity, on the posterior abdominal wall, roughly spanning the vertebral levels from T12 to L3. The right kidney is generally positioned slightly lower than the left, partly due to the presence of the liver on the right side. Both kidneys lie in a retroperitoneal position, meaning they are behind the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity) and not within the abdominal cavity itself