List of U.S. cities with significant Korean American populations

{{Short description|none}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox Chinese|title=U.S. cities with significant Korean-American populations|pic=USA-NYC-Koreatown99.jpg|picsize=300px|piccap=Korean signs in Koreatown, Manhattan }}

File:Census Bureau 2000, Koreans in the United States.png

Cities with significant Korean American populations represent municipalities with critical masses of Korean Americans in their total urban or suburban populations. Information is based on the 2005-2009 American Community Survey or as specified in each table. The list includes those who have emigrated from South Korea as well as Korean Americans of multiple generations. There are numbers of North Koreans living in the United States, despite North Korean citizens being unable to freely emigrate out of their country. As of 2022, Americans of Korean descent composed an estimated 0.5% of the population, or 1,501,587 people.{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDP1Y2022.DP05?q=DP05:%20ACS%20Demographic%20and%20Housing%20Estimates&g=010XX00US_050XX00US34003|title=Demographic and Housing Estimates|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=August 18, 2024}}

The three metropolitan areas with the highest Korean American populations as per the 2009 American Community Survey were the Greater Los Angeles Combined Statistical Area (300,000), the Greater New York Combined Statistical Area (200,000), and the Washington-Baltimore Metropolitan Area (93,000).https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=3297ab39c5d14a6d88d5d384055405f8 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}{{cite web|url=http://koreantvplus.com/pdf/mediakit/english/ktvplus-mediakit(English).pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819134120/http://koreantvplus.com/pdf/mediakit/english/ktvplus-mediakit(English).pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-08-19|title=KTV Plus Key Points|access-date=2011-05-14}} Southern California and the New York City Metropolitan Area{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCegCgAAQBAJ&q=new+york+second+largest+korean+population&pg=PA326|title=Savoring Gotham: A Food Lover's Companion to New York City: A Food Lover's...|author=Chi-Hoon Kim|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190263638|access-date = April 24, 2016|quote=New York City has the second-largest Korean population outside of Korea with...}} have the largest populations of Koreans outside of the Korean Peninsula.{{cite book|author=Pyong Gap Min|title=Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5PSYZMs8TzEC&pg=PA236|year=2006|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4129-0556-5|page=236}}
{{cite journal |last=Ahn |first=Daniel |title=Profiling Culture: An Examination of Korean American Gangbangers in Southern California |url=http://www.boalt.org/aalj/archives/profiling-culture-an-examination-of-korean-american-gangbangers-in-southern-california.html |journal=Asian American Law Journal |publisher=University of California Berkeley School of Law |volume=11 |access-date=April 16, 2016 |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525134721/http://www.boalt.org/aalj/archives/profiling-culture-an-examination-of-korean-american-gangbangers-in-southern-california.html |url-status=dead }}
{{cite book|author=Charles K. Armstrong|title=The Koreas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQWCAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA82|date=22 August 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-16132-2|page=82}}
{{cite book|author=Rough Guides|title=The Rough Guide to California|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uy5TLUbAwZAC&pg=PA89|date=2 May 2011|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-1-4053-8302-8|page=89}} Among Korean Americans born in Korea, the Los Angeles metropolitan area had 226,000 as of 2012; Greater New York (including Northern New Jersey) was home to 153,000 Korean-born Korean Americans; and metropolitan Washington, D.C., with 60,000.{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/korean-immigrants-united-states#English|title=Korean Immigrants in the United States - Table 1. Top Concentrations by Metropolitan Area for the Foreign Born from Korea, 2008-12|author=Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova|publisher=Migration Policy Institute|date=December 3, 2014|access-date=April 16, 2016}}

By percentage, the Korean American population of Bergen County, New Jersey, in the New York City Metropolitan Area, at 6.5% of Bergen County's population in 2022,{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/table?q=DP05:%20ACS%20Demographic%20and%20Housing%20Estimates&g=050XX00US34003|title=ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates Bergen County, New Jersey|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=August 18, 2024}} was the highest of any county in the United States. Bergen County, host to the county's highly ranked Academies magnet public high school{{cite web|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/smartest-public-high-schools-in-america-2016-3|title=The 50 smartest public high schools in America|author=Tanza Loudenback|website=Business Insider|date=2016-03-29|access-date=2016-03-29}}{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newsweek.com/high-schools/americas-top-high-schools-2015|title=America's Top High Schools 2015|magazine=Newsweek|access-date=2015-08-19}}{{cite web|url=http://bcts.bergen.org/index.php/bergen-county-academies |title=Welcome to the Bergen County Academies |publisher=Bergen County Technical Schools |access-date=October 27, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027232737/http://bcts.bergen.org/index.php/bergen-county-academies |archive-date=October 27, 2014 }} as well as to the North American headquarters operations of South Korean chaebols including Samsung,{{cite web|url=http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/company-profile.Samsung_Electronics_America_Inc.8c8cfbc91c0d265a.html|title=Samsung Electronics America, Inc. Company Profile|publisher=Hoover's Inc|access-date=June 26, 2015}} LG Corp,{{cite web|url=http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/englewood-cliffs/2017/02/07/lg-breaks-ground-englewood-cliffs-hq/97400212/|title=LG breaks ground on Englewood Cliffs HQ|author=Michael W. Curley, Jr.|publisher=NorthJersey.com - part of the USA TODAY network|date=February 7, 2017|access-date=March 6, 2017}} and Hanjin Shipping,{{cite web|url=http://www.northjersey.com/news/stranded-container-ship-gets-go-ahead-to-dock-in-elizabeth-1.1663365|title=Stranded container ship gets go-ahead to dock in Elizabeth|author=Richard Newman|publisher=NorthJersey.com via Gannett|date=September 20, 2016|access-date=September 22, 2016}} was home to all of the nation's top 10 municipalities by percentage of Korean population.{{cite web|url=http://www.northjersey.com/news/mahwah-library-hosts-korean-tea-ceremony-to-celebrate-new-year-1.1275756|title=Mahwah library hosts Korean tea ceremony to celebrate new year|author=James O'Neill|publisher=North Jersey Media Group|date=February 22, 2015|access-date=February 22, 2015}} These top 10 municipalities in the growing Korean hub of Bergen County, New Jersey, across the George Washington Bridge from New York City, were led by Palisades Park,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5PSYZMs8TzEC&q=fort+lee+koreatown+pyong+min&pg=PA237|title=Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues Second Edition, Edited by Pyong Gap Min|publisher=Pine Forge Press – An Imprint of Sage Publications, Inc|year=2006|access-date=2014-07-11|isbn=9781412905565|archive-date=March 31, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331160120/https://books.google.com/books?id=5PSYZMs8TzEC&q=fort+lee+koreatown+pyong+min&pg=PA237|url-status=live}} the municipality with the highest density of ethnic Koreans in the Western Hemisphere. Displaying ubiquitous Hangul signage and known as the Korean Village,{{cite web|url=http://www.town-court.com/getTownCourt.php?courtID=1071|title=Palisades Park Municipal Court|publisher=SpinJ Corporation|access-date=August 26, 2014|archive-date=October 28, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028004824/http://www.town-court.com/getTownCourt.php?courtID=1071|url-status=live}} Palisades Park uniquely comprises a Korean majority, at 53.7% of the borough's population in 2022.{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDP5Y2022.DP05?q=DP05:%20ACS%20Demographic%20and%20Housing%20Estimates&g=160XX00US3455770|title=ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates Palisades Park borough, New Jersey|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=August 18, 2024}} with both the highest Korean-American density and percentage of any municipality in the United States. The city of Los Angeles contained the highest Korean American population of any city proper in 2010, approximately 108,282.{{cite web|url=http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0644000lk.html|title=Los Angeles city, California QuickLinks|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=October 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415235828/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0644000lk.html|archive-date=April 15, 2012|url-status=dead}}