A motor controller of a permanent magnet motor includes an inverter, a torque and flux calculator configured to estimate or measure torque and flux generated in the permanent magnet motor as calculated torque flux, based on an output from the inverter and a rotor angle of the permanent magnet motor, a switching pattern selector configured to input a signal to the inverter to select one of a plurality of switching patterns based on comparison results of a reference torque and the calculated torque and a reference flux and the calculated flux, and a flux phase angle, and a reference flux calculator configured to compare a highest phase flux out of three phase fluxes obtained by the torque and flux calculator with a flux limit and to reduce the reference flux when the maximum phase flux is higher than the flux limit.