As of the 2011 American Community Survey, New York City is home to 100,000 ethnic Koreans, with two-thirds living in the borough of Queens.

[1] They established a foothold on Union Street in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, between 35th and 41st Avenues,[1] featuring restaurants and karaoke (noraebang) bars, grocery markets, education centers and bookstores, banking institutions, offices, consumer electronics vendors, apparel boutiques, and other commercial enterprises.

However, given the high levels of tourist traffic stemming from its proximity to the Empire State Building,[11] Macy's Herald Square, Penn Station,[11] Madison Square Garden, the Garment District, and the Flower District, amongst other Midtown Manhattan landmarks, it was an ideal location for Korean immigrants to settle.

The world's largest international Korean Pride Festival was inaugurated in Koreatown, Manhattan in October 2022 and has been growing on an annual basis.

[2] This expansion has led to the creation of an American Meokjagolmok, or Korean Restaurant Street, around the Long Island Rail Road station in Murray Hill, Queens, exuding the ambience of Seoul itself.

[2] The eastward pressure to expand was also created by the inability to move westward, inhibited by the formidable presence of the enormous Flushing Chinatown centered on Main Street.

Because, as of 1988, ethnic Koreans settling in New York City generally intended to permanently immigrate to the United States, the only Korean-oriented schools that year were supplementary institutions holding classes on Saturdays and Sundays.

The founder, who remained as the school's principal academic administrator in 1988, believed that Korean language education should be separate from religion.

[25] Korean restaurants in the district have had to expand or stay open around the clock to meet rising commercial rents and stay financially viable, given the growing prestige and high customer volume generated by foot traffic in Koreatown, Manhattan, and greater investment and involvement by the Korean chaebol.

The development of this Koreatown has led to the creation of an American Meokjagolmok, or Korean Restaurant Street, around the Long Island Rail Road station in Murray Hill, Queens, exuding the ambience of Seoul itself.

[27] Broad Avenue in Koreatown, Palisades Park in Bergen County, New Jersey has been referred to as the "Korean food walk of fame", with diverse offerings.

Korean cafés have become a major cultural element within Palisades Park's Koreatown, not only for the coffee, bingsu (shaved ice), and pastries, but also as communal gathering places.