Updated project metadata. Despite the progress in safety and efficacy of cell therapy with pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), the presence of residual undifferentiated stem cells or proliferating neural progenitor cells (NPCs) with rostral identity has remained a major challenge. Here we reported the generation of an LMX1A knock-in GFP reporter human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line that marks the early dopaminergic progenitors during neural differentiation. Purified GFP positive cells in vitro exhibited expression of mRNA and proteins that characterized and matched the midbrain dopaminergic identity. Further proteomic analysis of enriched LMX1A+ cells identified several membrane associated proteins including CNTN2, enabling prospective isolation of LMX1A+ progenitor cells. Transplantation of hPSC-derived purified CNTN2+ progenitors enhanced dopamine release from transplanted cells in the host brain and alleviated Parkinson’s disease symptoms in animal models. Our study establishes an efficient approach for purification of large numbers of hPSC-derived dopaminergic progenitors for therapeutic applications.