USC

University of Southern California
Annenberg School for Communication


Research

Area Profiles

Koreatown

Greater Koreatown area and Korean-origin sample

imageThe center of this ethnically diverse 6 square-mile area lies 3.6 miles from the Civic Center. Despite the fact that only 22 percent of 1990 residents were Korean-origin (the remainder is largely Hispanic), Koreatown is the major service, cultural, and political center for Korean Americans in Los Angeles County. Residential tenure is low (48 percent had lived in the community for less than three years), as are rates of home ownership. The generally high rate of entrepreneurship may account for the relatively close proximity to work (4 percent of respondents worked at home, and only 8 percent reported traveling more than 20 miles to work), as well as for the relatively high percentage (66 percent) who reported not having health insurance.