An ink for ink jet recording apparatuses contains water and a pigment dispersion containing a resin and carbon black. The ink additionally contains a surfactant including a compound expressed by the general formula (I) below, and the mass average molecular weight of the resin, the DBP oil absorption of the carbon black, the content of the resin with respect to the content of the carbon black in the pigment dispersion, and the dried-by-evaporation viscosity V40, which is the viscosity of the ink at the dryness of 40% by mass, are all within the respective predetermined ranges.