The soft magnetic material, the core, and the inductor have high permittivity and excellent DC superimposition characteristic. A soft magnetic material comprising a soft magnetic metal powder and a resin, wherein said soft magnetic metal powder is constituted from a particle group α and a particle group β, when IA is a peak intensity of the particle group α, Vα is the volume of the particle group α, IB is a peak intensity of the particle group β, Vβ is the volume of the particle group β, and IC is a minimum intensity present between the particle group α and the particle group β, then an intensity ratio IC/IA satisfies 0.12 or less, and a volume ratio Vα/Vβ is 2.0 or more and 5.1 or less.