Inhomogeneous strain state in a rectangular InGaAs quantum wire (QWR) embedded in GaAs matrix has been comparatively studied, via finite element analysis, for the cases of specimen prepared for high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and the bulk specimen. The quantum wire is extruded from the surface of the HRTEM specimen due to the inherent lattice-mismatch strain, which yields an inhomogeneous strain state in the HRTEM specimen. Some strain components are significantly relaxed in the HRTEM specimen, while other one is comparable to the strain state in bulk counterpart, depending on strain-monitoring location. Thus, careful selection of the strain component and measuring location is necessary in order to get meaningful bulk strain information from the HRTEM specimen, which is informative for the analysis and design of the QWR nanostructures.