The Croatian number one broke through for his first grand slam victory at Flushing Meadows in September, defeating Kei Nishikori in a clash between two maiden major finalists.
Cilic finished the season as world number nine, after peaking at a career-high eighth in October - but the Goran Ivanisevic-trained 26-year-old wants to go even further.
"For the new year, I'm looking at it that way. This year I broke into the top 10. I'm going to be in the top 10 for most of the year, for sure," Cilic said, speaking after his UAE Royals lost to the Singapore Slammers in the International Premier Tennis League on Friday.
"I'm now looking to make another step to add to my game and to work even harder to try and be a very solid top-10 player.
"I'm looking forward to next year to come even into the top five, that's, for sure, a new goal."
Cilic will be able to build on his New York win, which banked him 2000 rankings points - amounting to almost half of his rolling 12-month tally of 4150.
To do so, Cilic said he needs to be more consistent - as he only strung together more than two consecutive wins on tour once between his title wins at Delray Beach in February and his slam triumph seven months later.
That tournament run of more than two wins happened to come at Wimbledon, when he lost to Novak Djokovic in five sets in the quarter-finals.
"I think just better reaching my potential this year," Cilic said of his goals.
"Me and Goran worked a lot and I think we approached the way of the game I need to play and that's what we need to make better and to work on that even more to stabilise it, to make it very consistent.
"We are looking for another promising year."
Cilic said he was not expecting a hangover after becoming just the fifth player to have won a major outside the big four of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray since 2004.
"We did [celebrate] but it's normal procedure. There are a lot of emotions when you win your first grand slam but we are still firmly on the ground," said Cilic, who has 13 titles to his name.
"We know our way, we know how to train and what we did to achieve this. That's the path we are going to keep following."