A magnetic recording medium is provided and includes a substrate; and a magnetic layer provided over the substrate, wherein (wmax−wmin)/wmin≤400 [ppm] . . . (1) where wmax and wmin are respectively maximum and minimum of average values of width corresponding to samples of magnetic recording medium measured after the samples are stored for two hours under storage conditions (a loading tension in the longitudinal direction of the magnetic recording medium, a temperature and a relative humidity) for each of the samples, and a width of a sample of the magnetic recording medium at 25° C. and 50% relative humidity and without loading is ½ inch, magnetic recording medium has Young's modulus of less than 8.0 GPa in a longitudinal direction, and 4.0≤TB/(TA−TB) . . . (2) where TA is average thickness of magnetic recording medium and TB is average thickness of substrate.