A method for manufacturing a superconducting wire material in which the superconducting current is not saturated even when a superconducting layer is made into a thick film, and a superconducting wire material. In the method a superconducting layer is formed on a metal substrate interposed by an intermediate layer, the method including heating the metal substrate up to the film-formation temperature of a superconducting film for forming the superconducting layer, forming a superconducting film having a film thickness of at least 10 nm and no more than 200 nm on the intermediate layer, and reducing the metal substrate temperature to a level below the film-formation temperature of the superconducting film, and the superconducting film-formation, including the heating, the film-formation, and the cooling, are performed a plurality of times.