Provided is a thin film magnetic head capable of reducing expansion and bending of a recording pattern resulting from a skew so as to improve recording performance. A main pole layer comprises a laminate including a bottom main pole layer being disposed on a medium-incoming side and having a first saturated magnetic flux density and a top main pole layer being disposed on a medium-outgoing side and having a second saturated magnetic flux density larger than the first saturated magnetic flux density. When magnetic flux flows in the main pole layer, magnetic flux saturation occurs in the bottom main pole layer with a smaller saturated magnetic flux density, however, no magnetic flux saturation occurs in the top main pole layer with a larger saturated magnetic flux density, so the magnetic flux flows mainly in the top main pole layer on a priority basis. Writing by the main pole layer is mainly performed by the top main pole layer on the medium-outgoing side, so compared with the case where the main pole layer has a large saturated magnetic flux density as a whole, expansion of the recording pattern resulting from the skew can be reduced.