A method for manufacturing a rolling-element bearing includes forming an inner ring from a steel having a sulfur content of 0.002 to 0.015 mass % and an oxygen content of less than 15 ppm, subjecting the inner ring to a hardening heat treatment that ends by performing a final heat treatment step at a predetermined temperature, cold working the inner-ring raceway to generate compressive residual stresses at least in a surface layer of the inner-ring raceway, subjecting the inner ring to a bluing treatment and subjecting the blued inner ring to a thermal post-treatment process at a temperature below the predetermined temperature of the final hardening heat treatment step. The resulting rolling-element bearing may exhibit compressive residual stresses having an absolute value of at least 200 MPa at 0.1 mm beneath the outer surface of the inner-ring raceway and a maximum value of 1500 MPa or less throughout the inner ring.