A soft magnetic material includes a plurality of composite magnetic particles (30), wherein each of the plurality of composite magnetic particles (30) includes a metal magnetic particle (10), an insulating coating (20) covering the surface of the metal magnetic particle (10), and a composite coating (22) covering the outside of the insulating coating (20). The composite coating (22) includes a heat-resistance-imparting protective coating (24) covering the surface of the insulating coating (20), and a flexible protective coating (26) covering the surface of the heat-resistance-imparting protective coating (24). Accordingly, a soft magnetic material and a dust core which have a satisfactory compactibility and in which the insulating coating satisfactorily functions, thereby sufficiently reducing core loss, can be obtained.