ABSTRACT
KOREAN COMMUNITIES Korean Americans live in communities across the United States but are most heavily concentrated in California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Washington, and Texas. They are mostly urban dwellers; 96 percent reside in metropolitan areas. The largest number of Korean Americans resides in Southern California, with the next-largest population in the New York metropolitan area, including northern New Jersey and Connecticut. Especially concentrated communities, known as “Koreatowns,” are located in Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago. According to the 2000 U.S. census, 1.2 million Americans claimed Korean ancestry, a 42 percent increase over the 1990 total. In the twenty-first century, the vast majority of Korean Americans in the United States are foreign born-90 percent of those in California and 91 percent of those in New York who are eighteen years old or older. Accordingly, 78 percent of Korean Americans in the United States speak Korean at home.
