Aim To explore vitamin D and the risk factors associated with knee pain in a representative population of Korean older adults Methods Data were analyzed from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010–2013). A total of 3874 participants (1728 men, 2146 women) aged 65 years and older who had a measured serum 25‐hydroxyvitamin D level were evaluated. Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate the relationship between serum vitamin D and knee pain severity Results Sex, age, obesity, education, knee radiographic osteoarthritis, hip pain and back pain were associated with having knee pain. Also, the level of serum 25‐hydroxyvitamin D was not significantly associated with knee pain severity. After controlling for confounding factors, the level of serum 25‐hydroxyvitamin D was not significantly associated with knee pain, and severity levels of mild, moderate and severe. Conclusions The results show that the serum vitamin D did not have a significant effect on knee pain in older adults in Korea. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 1278–1285.