A thin-film magnetic head has a laminated construction comprising a main pole layer having a magnetic pole tip on a side of the medium-opposing surface opposing a recording medium, a write shield layer opposing the magnetic pole tip forming a recording gap layer, on the side of the medium-opposing surface, and a thin-film coil wound around at least a portion of the write shield layer. The thin-film magnetic head has an upper yoke pole layer having a larger size than the portion of the main pole layer which is more distant from the medium-opposing surface than the recording gap layer, wherein the upper yoke pole layer is joined to the side of the main pole layer which is near the thin-film coil.