To measure the residual stresses in thin films with limited area prepared by pulsed laser deposition, as well as to solve the problem of the relatively large error introduced by the Stoney equation under certain circumstances, a measurement method for residual stresses in thin films based on cantilever structures and numerical calculation was proposed in this article. In this method, atomic force microscopy probes with zero initial curvature were used as substrate cantilevers, and thin films were deposited on the substrate cantilevers using pulsed laser deposition. The bending profiles of the substrate cantilevers before and after thin film deposition were recorded and used in numerical calculation, together with other parameters including the thin film thicknesses, the geometries of the substrate cantilevers, and the Young’s moduli and the Poisson’s ratios of the involved materials, to analyze the experimental data and obtain the residual stresses in the thin films. By using this method, the residual stress in vanadium dioxide thin films, prepared by pulsed laser deposition in a high-temperature environment, is measured to be -340 MPa, corresponding to the value reported in the literature. The measurement method for residual stresses in thin films proposed in this article, which is based on cantilever structures and numerical calculation, has the advantages of wide versatility, good accuracy, and low costs.