Provided is a polymer electrolyte fuel cell which can rapidly absorb and diffuse water produced in a porous metal body and allows the water to be transpirated into the atmosphere, thereby enabling a stable operation for a long period of time even at a time of high-humidity/high-current density operation. The polymer electrolyte fuel cell includes a polymer electrolyte membrane; a pair of catalyst layers and a pair of gas diffusion layers, each pair of which is disposed so as to sandwich the polymer electrolyte membrane; and a porous metal body disposed on at least one of the pair of gas diffusion layers, in which boehmite alumina having an arithmetic mean roughness Ra of 5 nm or more and 1 μm or less is provided on at least a part of a surface of the porous metal body.