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December 20, 2023

D.C. Metropolitan Area

The Washington metropolitan area encompasses the District of Columbia and nearby parts of Maryland and Virginia. Currently, the area is home to 85,140 Koreans. Within this demographic, 4.29% live in the District of Columbia, 70.29% reside in Virginia, and 25.42% in Maryland. In Maryland, Montgomery County is home to 76.68% of the state’s Korean population. Similarly, in Virginia, Fairfax County hosts 70.09% of the Koreans living in the state.

Demographic Data

From 2016 to 2021, the population growth rate of Korean seniors in the 65+ age group (33.0%) was nearly twice that of the 50-64 age group (18.0%) in D.C.

Survey Findings

Among the 118 participants from the D.C. metropolitan area, 29% were between 50-64 years old, 35% were 65-74, 25% were 75-84, and 11% were 85 or older. 63% of participants were female and 37% were male. A majority of participants (69%) relied on Medicare or Medicaid for healthcare coverage, 21% had private insurance, 2% were uninsured, and 6% had both public and private insurance. Among those 65 and older, 22% were still in the labor force: 10% part-time, 4% full-time, and 8% unemployed. 

Technical Notes

This analysis utilizes data from the 2016 and 2021 American Community Survey 5-year Public Use Microdata Samples, focusing on the “alone” Census category for the Korean population. This means that the term “Korean alone” refers to individuals who identified exclusively as Korean without reporting affiliation with any other ethnic category. Respondents who identified as Korean in addition to another racial group (for instance, Korean and Black) are not included in the “Korean alone” count. In any analysis leveraging Census Bureau data, the “alone” figure should be regarded as the minimum size of the population under consideration.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Demographic Data
Survey Findings
Technical Notes
Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This report was co-authored by Linying He, Associate Director of Research, and Research Associates, Dena Li and Yuncheng Wang. Special thanks to Meera Venugopal, Director of Communications, Jenny Shin, Senior Communications Coordinator, and Annie Yang, Social Media Coordinator, for their design and editorial input. Illustrations were designed by Michelle Kwon, freelance illustrator and animator. Rushil Shakya, freelance web consultant, contributed to web development.

AAF is grateful the following member organizations for their contributions to this report: Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York (KCS – New York, NY), Asian Women’s Christian Association (AWCA – New Jersey), Korean Resource Center (KRC – Los Angeles, CA), Korean Community Service Center of Greater Washington (KCSC – Washington, D.C.), HANA Center (Chicago, IL), Woori Juntos (Houston, TX), and Korean American Community Services (San Francisco).

This report was made possible by the generous support of the Korean American Community Foundation, Korean American Community Foundation of San Francisco, Judith Ehm Foundation and Southpole Foundation.