Provided is a surface emitting laser in which a reflector material is not limited, a film thickness of the reflector is uniform, and a single lateral mode operation can be performed at high light output power. The surface emitting laser includes a resonator including a first refractive index region located at a central portion thereof and a second refractive index region which is located at a peripheral portion thereof and is lower in effective refractive index than the first refractive index region. Further, the resonator is configured such that a resonator length of a region including the first refractive index region satisfies a resonance condition and a resonator length of a region including the second refractive index region does not satisfy the resonance condition.