The neighborhood was founded in 1922 as one of six garden cities developed in Jerusalem during the days of the British Mandate for Palestine.

[5] Beit HaKerem was planned by Ricard Kaufmann, an architect notable for his Bauhaus style, and was at the time separated from the rest of the city by large swaths of undeveloped land.

[9][10] In the 2021 Israeli legislative election, the highest number of votes from Beit HaKerem went to Meretz (23%), Labor (16%), and Yesh Atid (15%).

Denmark Square (Kikar Denya) honors the Danish people for rescuing approximately 93⅓% percent of its Jewish population during the Holocaust.

The Jerusalem Light Rail, which began service in late 2011, passes through Beit HaKerem and has three stops there—Ha-'Haluts, Denia Square and Yefe Nof—providing convenient, rapid transportation to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, the Binyanei Hauma international convention center, the new terminus of the high-speed rail to Tel Aviv (28 minutes), Cinema City, the Machaneh Yehudah market, as well as to downtown Jerusalem, Zion Square, the Ben Yehudah pedestrian mall, Jerusalem City Hall, the Mamilla shopping mall and the Old City near Jaffa Gate and Damascus Gate.