A method is disclosed for characterizing a local magnetic field, in particular a stray field caused by a magnetizable or magnetic particle in a prescribed measuring area of a magnetic field. In at least one embodiment, a sensor array including a number of magnetic sensors and each having at least one layer sensitive to magnetic fields is arranged at least in a subregion of the measuring area, and at least one device is provided for reading out separately the signal from each sensor. According to at least one embodiment, the size, in particular of XMR sensors and the surface of the layer sensitive to magnetic fields and the grid dimension of the sensor array, are selected such that at least two neighboring sensors are influenced by the local stray field. An associated device for carrying out the method is also disclosed.