A steel sheet excellent in mechanical strength, workability and thermal stability and suited for use as a raw material in such fields of manufacturing automobiles, household electric appliances, machine structures, and of constructing buildings, and a manufacturing method thereof is provided. The steel sheet is a hot-rolled steel sheet of a carbon steel or low-alloy steel, the main phase of which is ferrite, and is characterized in that the average ferrite crystal grain diameter D(μm) at the depth of ¼ of the sheet thickness from the steel sheet surface satisfies the relations respectively defined by formulas (1) and (2) given below and the increase rate X (μm/min) in average ferrite crystal grain diameter at 700° C. at the depth of ¼ of the sheet thickness from the steel sheet surface and said average crystal grain diameter D(μm) satisfy the relation defined by the formula (3) given below: 1.2≦D≦7  formula (1) D≦2.7+5000/(5+350·C+40·Mn)2  formula (2) D·X≦0.1  formula (3) wherein C and Mn represent the content (in % by mass) of the respective elements in the steel.