A thin film magnetic head includes a lower core portion provided on a substrate and having a pole portion, a magnetic gap layer provided on the lower core portion, an insulating layer provided on the magnetic gap layer, conduction coils provided in the insulating layer, an upper core portion provided on the insulating layer, and an overcoat layer provided on the upper core portion. The upper core portion has a pole portion of a reduced width and a non-pole portion having a top-forming portion and an inclined section-forming portion formed on an inclined section of the insulating layer. The inclined section-forming section is made of a plurality of layers and a core angle of an uppermost layer of the plurality of layers of the non-pole portion is set at an angle which is 120 degrees or larger and is smaller than about 180 degrees and a core angle of a lower layer or layers of the plurality of layers of the non-pole portion is set at an angle which is smaller than the core angle of the uppermost layer and is larger than about 60 degrees. In one aspect of the invention, a foremost end portion of the lower layer of the inclined section-forming portion is located rearwardly of a foremost end portion of the the uppermost layer.