Automatic positioning of textual content within digital images is leveraged in a digital medium environment. Initially, user input is received to add textual content to a digital image. A salient portion and a non-salient portion of the digital image are identified. The salient portion of the digital image contains a salient object which corresponds to the most important or noticeable object in a digital image, as opposed to non-salient objects which correspond to less important background objects or portions of an image. A placement region for the textual content within the non-salient portion of the digital image is automatically determined, and the digital image is modified by positioning the textual content within the automatically determined placement region of the digital image. Positioning the textual content may include automatically adjusting the textual content to fit within the placement region, such as by automatically scaling or aligning the textual content.