The magnitude and distribution of residual stresses in structural carbon steel sections have been thoroughly investigated. However, few residual stress measurements have been made on structural stainless steel sections. Stainless steel has differing material stress–strain characteristics and thermal properties to carbon steel, both of which influence the formation of residual stresses. This suggests that established carbon steel residual stress models may not be appropriate for stainless steel. With increased use of stainless steel in load bearing applications, it is important to establish the residual stresses that exist within structural members. An experimental program to quantify the residual stresses in stainless steel sections from three different production routes has therefore been carried out. Comprehensive residual stress distributions have been obtained for three hot rolled angles, eight press braked angles and seven cold rolled box sections, with a total of over 800 readings taken. This paper presents the experimental techniques implemented and the residual stress distributions obtained as well as discussing the assumptions commonly made regarding through thickness residual stress variations. In the hot rolled and press braked sections, residual stresses were typically found to be below 20% of the material 0.2% proof stress, though for the cold rolled box sections, whilst membrane residual stresses were relatively low, bending residual stresses were found to be between 40% and 70% of the material 0.2% proof stress.