An austenitic stainless steel material is provided that has high creep strength even when used at an average operation temperature of more than 600 to 750° C. after welding with higher heat input, and furthermore, has excellent stress relaxation cracking resistance even after use for a long time period at the average operation temperature after welding with higher heat input. The steel material has a chemical composition which consists of, in mass %, C: 0.030% or less, Si: 1.50% or less, Mn: 2.00% or less, P: 0.045% or less, S: 0.0300% or less, Cr: 15.00 to 25.00%, Ni: 8.00 to 20.00%, N: 0.050 to 0.250%, Nb: 0.10 to 1.00%, Mo: 0.05 to 5.00%, and B: 0.0005 to 0.0100%, with the balance being Fe and impurities, and a ratio of the dissolved N amount (mass %) with respect to the content of N (mass %) in the steel material is 0.40 to 0.90.