In a method and apparatus for automatically determining a slice position in a magnetic resonance (MR) system, for acquiring at least one MR image of an anatomical structure in an object undergoing examination; at least one MR overview data set of the object undergoing examination, which contains the anatomical structure, is acquired. Furthermore, quantitative MR overview data of the object undergoing examination are determined in which, for at least some image points of the MR overview data set, a physical variable of the object undergoing examination is determined quantitatively and with spatial resolution. Further, in the quantitative MR overview data, at least one marking is ascertained using the physical variable and previously stored reference data in which the value of the physical variable is specified in dependence on a basic field strength of the MR apparatus and for at least two different basic field strengths, and the slice position is determined using the ascertained marking.