Palisades Park is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 20,292, an increase of 670 (+3.4%) from the 2010 census count of 19,622, which in turn reflected an increase of 2,549 (+14.9%) from the 17,073 counted in the 2000 census.Table 7. Population for the Counties and Municipalities in New Jersey: 1990, 2000 and 2010, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, February 2011. Accessed May 1, 2023.
The borough of Palisades Park was created by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 22, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township. A portion of its area was annexed by the neighboring borough of Fort Lee in April 1909.Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 84. Accessed June 1, 2024.Bergen County New Jersey Municipalities, Dutch Door Genealogy. Accessed May 26, 2006.Honeyman, Abraham Van Doren. Index-analysis of the Statutes of New Jersey, 1896-1909: Together with References to All Acts, and Parts of Acts, in the 'General Statutes' and Pamphlet Laws Expressly Repealed: and the Statutory Crimes of New Jersey During the Same Period, p. 210. New Jersey Law Journal Publishing Company, 1910. Accessed September 16, 2015. The borough was named for its location atop the New Jersey Palisades.Hutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names, New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed September 16, 2015.Gannett, Henry. The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, p. 236. United States Government Printing Office, 1905. Accessed September 16, 2015.
It is one of the largest and fastest-growing ethnic Korean enclaves outside of Korea. Koreans comprise the majority (65%) of the population of the borough of Palisades Park,Sudol, Karen; and Sheingold, Dave. "Ballots in Korean set for Bergen; Community's census figures dictate a need", The Record, October 13, 2011. Accessed June 27, 2025, via Newspapers.com. "Among the population as a whole, 17 municipalities in Bergen County were at least 10 percent Korean in 2010. The top three are: Palisades Park: 52 percent; Leonia: 27 percent; Ridgefield: 26 percent" the municipality with the highest density of ethnic Koreans in the Western Hemisphere and the home of both the highest Korean-American density and percentage of any municipality in the United States. It has been called Koreatown on the HudsonGottfired, Sophia F. "Korean Food Crawl with Kimchi Smoke's Rob Cho; Rob Cho of Kimchi Smoke takes us to his four favorite spots in the borough known as 'Koreatown on the Hudson'", The Record, January 12, 2017. Accessed June 27, 2025. "So, wanting to know more about bulgogi, banchan and bibimbap – and truth be told, eat lots of good Korean grub – we asked Robert Austin Cho, the Korean-American owner and pit master of the immensely popular Kimchi Smoke Barbecue in Westwood, to accompany us on a food crawl in – where else – Palisades Park, the town with one of the highest percentages of Korean-Americans in the country. In fact, it's often called 'Koreatown on the Hudson.'" and Little Korea. The borough's population has grown by 40% since the 1990 census, accelerated by zoning laws that permit duplex homes on land previously containing a single-family detached home.Appelbaum, Binyamin. "This Small New Jersey Town Became a Different Kind of Suburb", The New York Times, March 25, 2024. Accessed April 7, 2024. "There have been some growing pains, but many more people are now able to live in Palisades Park. Since 1990, the population has increased by 40 percent."
Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 1.28 square miles (3.32 km2), including 1.24 square miles (3.21 km2) of land and 0.04 square miles (0.11 km2) of water (3.28%).
The borough borders Fort Lee, Leonia, Ridgefield and Ridgefield Park.Areas touching Palisades Park, MapIt. Accessed March 2, 2020.Bergen County Map of Municipalities, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed March 2, 2020.New Jersey Municipal Boundaries, New Jersey Department of Transportation. Accessed November 15, 2019. Morsemere is a neighborhood largely in the northern part of Ridgefield straddling the southern border of Palisades Park.
The town's central business district centered around Broad Avenue has been called Koreatown. In mid-2015, a proposal was submitted by the Korean-American Association of Palisades Park to the mayor and council to add a second name to Broad Avenue, such as "Korean Market Street" (Meokjagolmok) or "Korea Way".
History Until the 1980s, Palisades Park was overwhelmingly Caucasian, a mix of blue-collar workers and professionals whose families originated largely from Italy, Croatia, Germany, and Greece. Its houses were inexpensive, and it had a number of vacant shops and offices. In the 1990s, a continuous stream of Korean immigrants emerged into Palisades Park. A substantial number of affluent and educated Korean American professionals have settled in Bergen County since the early 2000s and have founded various academic and communally supportive organizations, including the Korean Parent Partnership Organization at the Bergen County Academies magnet high school and the Korean-American Association of New Jersey. Approximately 120 Korean stores were counted in Palisades Park in 2000, a number which has risen significantly since then, featuring restaurants and karaoke (noraebang) bars, grocery markets, education centers and bookstores, financial institutions, offices, electronics vendors, apparel boutiques, and other commercial enterprises.
In May 2012, borough officials rejected requests by two diplomatic delegations from Japan to remove a small monument from a public park, a brass plaque on a block of stone, dedicated in 2010 to the memory of comfort women, tens of thousands of women and girls, many Korean, who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers during World War II. Days later, a South Korean delegation endorsed the borough's decision. The first Japanese delegation cited apologies offered by their country's government for its involvement as justifying the removal of the monument, while officials from the second delegation controversially claimed that "comfort women were a lie". However, in neighboring Fort Lee, various Korean American groups could not reach consensus on the design and wording for such a monument as of early April 2013.
In May 2014, the Palisades Park Public Library created a memorial dedicated to the victims of the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry off the South Korean coast on April 16, 2014.
Demographics The per capita Korean American population of Bergen County, 6.3% by the 2010 United States census, (increasing to 6.9% by the 2011 American Community Survey), is the highest of any county in the United States, with all of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population and an absolute total of 56,773 Korean Americans (increasing to 63,247 by the 2011 American Community Survey) living in the county. The concentration of Korean Americans in Palisades Park in turn is the highest of any municipality in the United States, at 52% of the population, enumerating 10,115 residents of Korean ancestry as of the 2010 Census. Palisades Park has been referred to as the Korean village. Along with Koreatowns in New York City and Long Island, Bergen County serves as the nexus for an overall Korean American population of 218,764 individuals in the Greater New York Combined Statistical Area, the second largest population of ethnic Koreans outside of Korea.
Racial and ethnic composition +Palisades Park borough, New Jersey – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 2000Pop 2010Pop 2020% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)6,6684,2132,90339.06%21.47%14.31%Black or African American alone (NH)1762832621.03%1.44%1.29%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)137100.08%0.04%0.05%Asian alone (NH)7,01011,31211,90041.06%57.65%58.64%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)3360.02%0.02%0.03%Other race alone (NH)4568930.26%0.35%0.46%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)3451612562.02%0.82%1.26%Hispanic or Latino (any race)2,8133,5754,86216.48%18.22%23.96%Total17,07319,62220,292 100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census As of the 2020 census, Palisades Park had a population of 20,292. The median age was 40.1 years. 16.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 14.7% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 97.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 95.9 males age 18 and over.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 7,314 households in Palisades Park, of which 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 49.6% were married-couple households, 19.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 20.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 7,668 housing units, of which 4.6% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3% and the rental vacancy rate was 3.2%.
2010 census The 2010 United States census counted 19,622 people, 6,934 households, and 5,020 families in the borough. The population density was . There were 7,362 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 28.90% (5,670) White, 1.96% (385) Black or African American, 0.31% (60) Native American, 57.84% (11,350) Asian, 0.05% (10) Pacific Islander, 9.00% (1,765) from other races, and 1.95% (382) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 18.22% (3,575) of the population.
Of the 6,934 households, 26.1% had children under the age of 18; 53.7% were married couples living together; 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present and 27.6% were non-families. Of all households, 19.8% were made up of individuals and 6.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83 and the average family size was 3.20.
16.5% of the population were under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 37.9% from 25 to 44, 25.6% from 45 to 64, and 11.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.0 years. For every 100 females, the population had 99.7 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 98.3 males.