A steel wire according to an aspect of the present invention includes a predetermined chemical composition, in which a wire diameter R of the steel wire is 1.0 mm to 3.5 mm, a soft portion is formed along an outer circumference of the steel wire, the Vickers hardness of the soft portion is lower than that of a position of the steel wire at a depth of of the wire diameter R by Hv 30 or higher, the thickness of the soft portion is 5 m to 0.1R mm, the metallographic structure of a center portion of the steel wire contains 95% to 100% of pearlite by area %, the average lamellar spacing of pearlite in a portion from a surface of the steel wire to a depth of 5 m is less than that of pearlite at the center of the steel wire, the difference between the average lamellar spacing of pearlite in the portion from the surface of the steel wire to the depth of 5 m and the average lamellar spacing of pearlite at the center of the steel wire is 3 nm to 60 nm, and the tensile strength is 1100 MPa or higher.

A cable bead comprising an annular core and a side wire spirally wrapped up around the annular core, wherein the annular core is made up of a round steel wire made to circle once or made, without being stranded, to circle 2 to 10 times side by side, and wherein the side wire is a round steel wire consecutive from the annular core. This provides a high-strength cable bead that can press a tire main body against a wheel without fail even if a tire is charged with a high load.