Mean and local residual stresses in Cu films and Ag films on 4Cr13 substrates are evaluated by cantilever beam method. The results show that the mean and local residual stresses in Cu films and Ag films decrease abruptly with the film thickness, then tend to be stable. The residual stress in the two kinds of films mainly originates from the interfacial misfit strain. Their interfacial stress is very large and the growing stress is small. The mean value of residual stress in thin Cu films is very large, even beyond the fracture strength of the bulk Cu material.