Korean Americans
ethnic group; Americans of Korean ancestry
Korean Americans (Korean: 한국계 미국인) are Americans who have full or partial Korean ethnic ancestry. While the broader term Overseas Korean in America (미주한인/재미교포/재미한인) may refer to all ethnic Koreans residing in the United States, the specific designation of Korean American implies the holding of American citizenship.
As of 2022, there are 1.5–1.8 million Americans of Korean descent, of whom roughly 1.04 million were born abroad, accounting for 8% of all Asian Americans and 0.5% of the total U.S. population. However, prominent scholars and Korean associations claim that the Korean American population exceeds 2.5–3 million, which would make it the largest community of Overseas Koreans in the world, ahead of China's 2.1 million.
Nearly the entire population of Korean Americans traces its ancestry to South Korea (Republic of Korea), with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) accounting for a negligible number. An estimated 20,000 second generation Korean Americans are "dual citizens by birth" of South Korea and the United States of America (선천적 한미 복수국적자).
In contrast to Northeast Asia, which is grappling with significantly low birth rates, the number of Korean Americans with both parents from Korea is growing by 5.9%. Moreover, the population of those with mixed heritage is increasing at a rate of 16.5%.
Background
As of 2023, Korean Americans made up about 0.6% of the U.S. population, numbering approximately 2 million people. They are the fifth-largest subgroup within the Asian American community, following Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, Indian Americans, and Vietnamese Americans.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Korean Americans” as ethnic group; Americans of Korean ancestry. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as ethnic group; Americans of Korean ancestry. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q276879. The Library of Congress control number is sh85073078. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2022 and 2023.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Korean Americans”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Korean Americans primary sources, Korean Americans archive and Korean research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Korean Americans” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.