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


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 2009, Americans of Korean descent made up about 0.4% of the population, or 1,307,000 people.
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, the Greater New York Combined Statistical Area, and the Washington-Baltimore Metropolitan Area. Southern California and the New York City Metropolitan Area have the largest populations of Koreans outside of the Korean Peninsula. Among Korean Americans born in Korea, the Los Angeles metropolitan area had 226,000 as of 2012; Greater New York was home to 153,000 Korean-born Korean Americans; and metropolitan Washington, 60,000.
By percentage, the Korean American population of Bergen County, New Jersey, in the New York City Metropolitan Area, was 6.3% by the 2010 United States Census, the highest of any county in the United States. In 2010, Bergen County, host to the county's highly ranked Academies magnet public high school as well as to the North American headquarters operations of South Korean chaebols including Samsung, LG Corp, and Hanjin Shipping, was home to all of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population and an absolute total of 56,773 Korean Americans. The concentration of Korean Americans in Palisades Park, New Jersey, within Bergen County, was the highest of any municipality in the United States in 2010, at 52% of the population. The city of Los Angeles contained the highest Korean American population of any city proper in 2010, approximately 108,282.

Large cities

The list of large cities with a Korean-American population of at least one percent of the total population.
RankCityStateKorean-Americans 2010Percentage 2010Korean-Americans 2015Percentage 2015
1Los AngelesCalifornia%%
2HonoluluHawaii%%
3AnaheimCalifornia%%
4San JoseCalifornia%%
5New York CityNew York%%
6AuroraColorado%%
7AnchorageAlaska%%
8San FranciscoCalifornia%%
9SeattleWashington%%
10PlanoTexas%%

Medium-sized cities

List of medium-sized cities with a Korean-American population of at least one percent of the total population.
RankCityStateKorean-AmericansPercentage
1FullertonCalifornia%
2TorranceCalifornia%
3IrvineCalifornia%
4GlendaleCalifornia%
5Santa ClaraCalifornia%
6BellevueWashington%
7Ann ArborMichigan%
8SchaumburgIllinois%
9KilleenTexas%
10BerkeleyCalifornia%
11CambridgeMassachusetts%
12FremontCalifornia%
13TacomaWashington%
14CarrolltonTexas%
15Santa ClaritaCalifornia%

Municipalities with density of at least 500 Korean Americans per square mile in 2010

Main articles: Koreatown, Palisades Park and Koreatown, Fort Lee
RankMunicipalityCounty or cityStateKorean AmericansDensity of Korean Americans per square milePercentage of municipality's population
1Palisades ParkBergen CountyNew Jersey%
2Fort LeeBergen CountyNew Jersey%
3EdgewaterBergen CountyNew Jersey%
4Cliffside ParkBergen CountyNew Jersey%
5LeoniaBergen CountyNew Jersey%
6La PalmaOrange CountyCalifornia%
7RidgefieldBergen CountyNew Jersey%
8ManhattanNew York CityNew York%
9CerritosLos Angeles CountyCalifornia%
10CresskillBergen CountyNew Jersey%
11Great Neck PlazaNassau CountyNew York%
12FullertonOrange CountyCalifornia%
13River EdgeBergen CountyNew Jersey%
14TorranceLos Angeles CountyCalifornia%
15QueensNew York CityNew York%
16NorthvaleBergen CountyNew Jersey%
17ClosterBergen CountyNew Jersey%
18Englewood CliffsBergen CountyNew Jersey%

Top ten municipalities as ranked by Korean-American percentage of overall population in 2010