During the multi-pass wire drawing process, wires suffer a great amount of plastic deformation that is through the cross-section. This generates tensile residual stress at surface of drawn wires. The generated residual stress on surface is one of the problems for quality of wires so that prediction and reduction of residual stresses is important to avoid unexpected fracture. Therefore, in this study, the effect of process variables such as semi-die angle, bearing length and reduction ratio on the residual stress was evaluated through Finite Element Analysis. Based on the results of the Analysis, a prediction model was established for predicting residual stress on the surface of high carbon steel(AISI1072, AISI1082). To identify the effectiveness of the proposed model, X-ray diffraction is used to measure the residual stresses on the surface. As the result of the comparison between calculated residual stresses and measured residual stresses, the model could be used to predict residual stresses in cold drawn wire.