A damping force control apparatus controlling a damping force control value for a damper whose damping force is set by the damping force control value includes: a relative velocity estimation device estimating a relative velocity of a vehicle wheel with respect to a vehicle body; and a damping force calculation device determining the damping force control value to control vibration of the vehicle body based on control input variables of the vehicle body and an estimated relative velocity, wherein the relative velocity estimation device includes an estimated damping force calculation section, a delay correction section, and a relative velocity calculation section, and the delay correction section corrects the estimated damping force and varies delay correction terms to reduce divergence between an actual measured relative velocity and the estimated relative velocity in different damping coefficients of the damper.