Palisades Park is 47% Korean, and the 11 most Korean cities are all in one county
Nearly half the people in Palisades Park, New Jersey are Korean. The borough of 20,317 people counts 9,475 residents of Korean origin, 46.7 percent, which makes it the most Korean municipality in the United States by share. Broad Avenue, its main street, runs through blocks of Korean restaurants, bakeries, banks and karaoke rooms, and borough business gets done in two languages.
The surrounding area around Palisades Park itself is very Korean. The eleven most Korean cities in America are all in one place, and it isn't Los Angeles. Every one of them is in Bergen County, New Jersey, directly across the George Washington Bridge from Manhattan.
| Rank | City | Korean share | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Palisades Park, NJ | 46.7% | 20,317 |
| 2 | Old Tappan, NJ | 33.6% | 6,686 |
| 3 | Leonia, NJ | 27.6% | 9,441 |
| 4 | Fort Lee, NJ | 23.2% | 40,345 |
| 5 | Norwood, NJ | 23.1% | 5,817 |
| 6 | Closter, NJ | 22.6% | 8,663 |
| 7 | Cresskill, NJ | 22.0% | 9,257 |
| 8 | Tenafly, NJ | 19.0% | 15,237 |
| 9 | Englewood Cliffs, NJ | 18.1% | 5,384 |
| 10 | Ridgefield, NJ | 18.0% | 11,547 |
| 11 | Edgewater, NJ | 17.5% | 15,499 |
| 12 | La Crescenta-Montrose, CA | 15.2% | 19,660 |
The first non-New Jersey entry doesn't appear until 12th place, and it's La Crescenta-Montrose in the foothills north of Los Angeles, followed by neighboring La Cañada Flintridge at 15.1 percent. Centreville, Virginia, in the DC suburbs, is 15th at 13.3 percent and is by far the biggest place near the top of the list, with 71,706 people.
How one county became the center
Korean settlement in Bergen County grew out of Manhattan. Immigrants who started in the city's Koreatown moved across the bridge for houses and schools, first to Fort Lee, then north and south along the Palisades. Palisades Park's Broad Avenue became the commercial spine, and each generation of arrivals reinforced the same towns, since the churches, groceries, schools with Korean-speaking staff and the customer base for a Korean business were already there. Bergen County's school districts, among the most competitive in New Jersey, kept pulling families in.
Los Angeles has the largest Korean population of any city, 103,060 people, and its Koreatown is the most famous Korean district in the country. But LA is so big that Koreans make up just 2.7 percent of the population. In Palisades Park they're almost half the town, and that's the difference between where the most Koreans live and where the most Korean places are. We covered the raw-count version, the states and metros with the biggest Korean populations, in where the most Korean Americans live.
The full list of all 4,017 ranked cities is at highest Korean share cities, the count version at largest Korean population cities, and the national profile on the Korean Americans page.
Sources
Figures are people of Korean origin from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, table B02015, as a share of total population. Shares for small places carry wider margins of error than large ones.
US factory orders fell again in June, but the backlog reached nearly $1.6 trillion
Factory orders fell a second straight month in June and shipments dipped for the first time since December. The number that keeps climbing is unfilled orders, up in 23 of the last 24 months to nearly $1.6 trillion.
US construction spending is falling as the factory-building boom fades
June construction spending was flat against May but 3.2 percent below last year. The category tables show manufacturing construction down 21.4 percent, while office construction, which counts data centers, keeps climbing.
The Most Educated States in America
Every U.S. state ranked by the share of adults with a bachelor's degree. Massachusetts leads at 47.3 percent, West Virginia trails at 24.1 percent, and the map closely tracks state income.
What is the most Korean city in America?
Palisades Park, New Jersey, where 9,475 of 20,317 residents are of Korean origin, 46.7 percent. That is the highest share of any US municipality, and its Broad Avenue business district operates largely in Korean.
Why are the most Korean towns in New Jersey instead of Los Angeles?
Share and count are different measures. Los Angeles has the largest Korean population of any city at 103,060 people, but that is 2.7 percent of a very large city. The Bergen County boroughs are small, so the Korean communities that grew there, spreading from Manhattan across the George Washington Bridge through Fort Lee, make up a much larger slice of each town.
Which cities have the highest Korean share after Palisades Park?
Old Tappan (33.6 percent), Leonia (27.6), Fort Lee (23.2), Norwood (23.1), Closter (22.6), Cresskill (22.0), Tenafly (19.0), Englewood Cliffs (18.1), Ridgefield (18.0), and Edgewater (17.5), all in Bergen County, New Jersey. La Crescenta-Montrose, California is 12th at 15.2 percent.
