Pancreatic cancer has a poor prognosis; hence, novel prognostic markers and effective therapeutic targets should be identified. We aimed to evaluate folate receptor alpha (FR-) expression in pancreatic cancer and examine its association with clinicopathological features. We utilized tissue samples from 100 primary pancreatic cancer patients who underwent surgery. FR- was expressed in 37 of 100 cases (37%). The FR--positive group (median, 18.8 months) had a significantly poorer prognosis than the FR--negative group [median 21.3 months; HR 1.89 (1.12-3.12); P=0.017]. These groups were not significantly different regarding progression-free survival (P=0.196). Furthermore, other serum tumor markers including CA19-9 (mean, 186 vs. 822U/ml; P=0.001), Dupan-2 (286 vs. 1133U/ml; P=0.000), and Span-1 (69.7 vs. 171.9U/ml; P=0.006) were significantly downregulated in the FR--positive group. CA19-9 was another prognostic factor, in addition to FR-, and patient prognosis showed clear stratification curves with the expression of these two molecules. Along with CA19-9, FR- expression was an independent prognostic factor for the overall survival. FR- and CA19-9 helped predict patient prognosis based on stratification curves.