There is provided a magnetoresistance element in which a shape of a free ferromagnetic layer includes a first portion with a parallelogrammic contour, and second portions that protrude from a pair of opposite corners of the first portion respectively in a main direction parallel to a pair of opposite sides of the first portion, the shape is asymmetric with respect to a line that passes through a center of the first portion and is parallel to the main direction, and an axis of easy magnetization of the free ferromagnetic layer falls within a range defined by an acute angle that a first direction makes with a second direction, the first direction being substantially parallel to the main direction and the second direction being substantially parallel to the longest line segment that joins contours of the second portions.