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Korean Americans have historically had a very strong Christian—particularly Protestant—heritage. Between 60% and 65% identify as Christian; 40% of those consist of immigrants who were not Christians at the time of their arrival in the United States. There are about 4,000 Korean Christian churches in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.christiantoday.co.kr/news/324702|title=미국 내 한인교회 3천5백 개… 남가주 1천개로 '압도적'|date=August 19, 2019 |website=종교신문 1위 크리스천투데이|access-date=May 11, 2020 |archive-date=August 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810022321/https://www.christiantoday.co.kr/news/324702|url-status=live}}</ref> According to a 2016 survey, Presbyterian churches accounted for 42%, followed by Baptists (17%) and Methodists (12%).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.christiantoday.us/24398|title=≪크리스찬투데이≫ 해외한인교회, 114년만에 6000을 넘다|website=크리스찬투데이|access-date=2020-05-11 |archive-date=2020-01-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111042827/http://christiantoday.us/24398|url-status=live}}</ref> However, according to a study by UC Riverside in 2020, 64% of Korean American Christians identify as Presbyterians, followed by Methodists (11%) and Baptists (7%).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.christiantoday.us/|title=크리스찬투데이|website=크리스찬투데이 |access-date=2020-05-11|archive-date=2020-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200513160616/http://christiantoday.us/|url-status=live}}</ref>
According to a survey conducted in 2022-2023, Korean Americans have the second largest percentage of individuals who identity as Christian. 59% of Korean Americans identify as Christian. These statistics are in contrast with other Asian American groups such as the Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and Vietnamese of whom 15 to 36% identify as Christian.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rotolo |first=Besheer Mohamed and Michael |date=2023-10-11 |title=Religion Among Asian Americans |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/10/11/religion-among-asian-americans/ |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |language=en-US}}</ref>
The majority of Korean Americans across various social categories go to church. Won Moo Hurh attributes this to 4 factors, including the Christian backgrounds of both early and recent immigrants and the ethnic function of the Korean American Church (Hurh 108). Many early Korean immigrants were Christians in Korea who came to the US through the support of American missionaries. The churches established by early Korean immigrants thus became associated with ethnic organizations. Korean immigrants who arrived in the US following the US Immigration Act of 1965 also came from urban middle-class backgrounds and were predominantly Christian. (Hurh 109)
In 2004, there are 89 Korean Buddhist temples in the United States; the largest such temple, Los Angeles' Sa Chal Temple, was established in 1974.<ref name="suh">{{citation|title=Being Buddhist in a Christian World: Gender and Community in a Korean American Temple|last=Suh|first=Sharon A.|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=0-295-98378-7|pages=3–5|year=2004}}</ref> A small minority, about 2 to 10% of Korean Americans are Buddhist.<ref name="ency">{{cite book |last=Lee|first=Jonathan H. X.|author2=Kathleen M. Nadeau |title=Encyclopedia of Asian American folklore and folklife |publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2011|isbn=978-0-313-35066-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofas00leej/page/703 703] |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofas00leej/page/703}}</ref> Reasons given for the conversion of immigrant Korean families to Christianity include the responsiveness of Christian churches to immigrant needs as well as their communal nature, whereas Buddhist temples foster individual spirituality and practice and provide fewer social networking and business opportunities, as well as social pressure from other Koreans to convert.<ref>{{cite book |last=Yoo|first=David|author2=Ruth H. Chung |title=Religion and spirituality in Korean America |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2008|isbn=978-0-252-07474-5}}</ref> Most Korean American Christians do not practice traditional Confucian [[Veneration of the dead|ancestral rites]] practiced in Korea (in Korea, most Catholics, Buddhists, and nonbelievers practice these rites).<ref name="ency"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Park|first=Chang-Won|title=Cultural Blending in Korean Death Rites|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |date=10 June 2010|pages=12–13|isbn=978-1-4411-1749-6}}</ref>
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