There was little immigration from Korea before the Korean War (1950–3), but numbers increased with the arrival of military wives and adopted orphans. Between new immigration laws in 1965 and 1990, however, the Korean American population increased from 45,000 to 800,000, becoming the third-largest Asian American immigrant group, after the Chinese Americans and the Filipinos. Moreover, by 1980, 81.9 percent of the community was foreign-born, many having fled the unstable economic and political climate in South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s.

While there are large Korean settlements in Los Angeles, CA, Queens (New York City, NY) and Philadelphia, PA, Korean Americans are scattered in many major cities across the country including southern states, like Texas and Virginia. Many are highly educated, including nurses, scientists and professionals.

Korean Americans are most visible to mainstream Americans as small-business owners in small grocers, liquor stores or laundries from Manhattan to South Central Los Angeles.

With limited capital from pooled resources, many immigrants took over stores in economically depressed areas. Their recent immigration and lack of neighborhood ties coupled with an image of exclusionary success fueled widely publicized conflicts between African Americans and Korean Americans in the media, especially following the 1992 Los Angeles riots where many Korean-owned stores were destroyed. Films like Do the Right Thing (1989) and Falling Down (1993) have perpetuated stereotypes of hard-working, yet selfish Korean store-owners. Both Koreans and African Americans are now trying to solve these issues.

Korean Americans are the most Christian of the Asian Americans, even prior to immigration, with over 50 percent of the national population Christian. Korean American churches can be found throughout the US, linking them to American civic culture in ways that are different from Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans. Indeed, Korean Americans in economics, education and participation embody the American dream, which has exacerbated the tensions with those native-born Americans who have seen its promises crumbling.