A soft magnetic material includes a plurality of composite magnetic particles (30) having metallic magnetic particles (10) that are composed of pure iron, and an insulation film (20) that surrounds the surface of the metallic magnetic particles (10), wherein the manganese content of the metallic magnetic particles (10) is 0.013 mass % or less, and is more preferably 0.008 mass % or less. Hysteresis loss can thereby be effectively reduced.