Disclosed is a method for producing a water absorbent resin, by which a surface-crosslinked water absorbent resin having excellent physical properties can be efficiently obtained at low cost, while assuring high productivity. When the production scale is increased to a continuous production on a huge scale (for example, 1 t/hr or more), the physical properties are improved and stabilized (for example, standard deviation of the physical properties is reduced) by a surface-crosslinking treatment, and the absorption against pressure (AAP) and liquid permeability (SFC) are further improved. Specifically disclosed is a method for continuously producing a polyacrylic acid (salt)-type water absorbent resin powder, which comprises: a step of preparing an aqueous monomer solution using an acrylic acid (salt)； a step of polymerizing the aqueous monomer solution； a shredding step of a hydrous gel-like crosslinked polymer during or after the polymerization； a step of drying the thus-obtained particulate hydrous gel-like crosslinked polymer； a step of crushing and classifying the dried product； a step of heating and surface-crosslinking after the classification； and a step of cooling after the surface-crosslinking. In the method for producing a polyacrylic acid (salt)-type water absorbent resin, the internal area of the cooling device that is used in the cooling step is 0.25-0.95 times the internal area of the heating device that is used in the surface-crosslinking step.
