An object of the present invention is to provide a chemical liquid which makes it possible to form a thinner resist film having a uniform thickness on a substrate by using a small amount of resist composition and demonstrates excellent defect inhibition performance. Another object of the present invention is to provide a pattern forming method. A chemical liquid of the present invention contains a mixture of two or more kinds of organic solvents and an impurity metal containing one kind of element selected from the group consisting of Fe, Cr, Ni, and Pb, in which a vapor pressure of the mixture is 50 to 1,420 Pa at 25° C., in a case where the chemical liquid contains one kind of the impurity metal, a content of the impurity metal in the chemical liquid is 0.001 to 100 mass ppt, and in a case where the chemical liquid contains two or more kinds of the impurity metals, a content of each of the impurity metals in the chemical liquid is 0.001 to 100 mass ppt.