A surface emitting laser element includes a substrate and a hexagonal semiconductor structure layer formed on the substrate which emits a light from an upper surface side or a bottom surface side The semiconductor structure layer includes a first clad layer of a first conductivity type, a first guide layer of the first conductivity type having a photonic crystal layer and a first embedding layer, a second embedding layer, an active layer, second guide layer, and a second clad layer of a second conductivity type. The photonic crystal layer has a plurality of voids disposed having two-dimensional periodicity when viewed from above. The first embedding layer is formed on an upper side of the photonic crystal layer and closes openings of the voids. And an oxygen concentration of the second embedding layer is less than an oxygen concentration of the first embedding layer.