Marquette Demographics
Welcome to Historic Downtown Marquette
Marquette, on the shore of Lake Superior, is the largest city in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Offering unmatched quality of life, the City serves as a regional center for shopping, entertainment, culture, government, health care, and education.
It is the vision of the City of Marquette to become the premiere livable, walkable, winter city in North America. Downtown is a major component of that vision. Working toward that goal the City and the Downtown are working to become of the "best places" in the U.S. to live, work, visit and play. The City has an unmatched quality of life and has received several prestigious national awards and accolades over the last decade. Regional tourism is a major component in the overall economy of Marquette. Several nationally recognized events: the Noquemanon Ski Marathon, the Ore to Shore Bike Race, the Superior Bike Fest, and the U.P. 200 Sled Dog Race each draw several thousand participants and spectators each year.
The Historic Downtown remains the center of the Community. Within the district are specialty retail businesses, restaurants, financial institutions, three hotels, a concentration of law offices, dental, medical, and other professional offices, a 52,000 square foot public library, the U.P. Children's Museum, the Regional History Center, the Marquette Maritime Museum, and the City Art and Culture Center. Downtown is the home to City, County, and Federal Government offices, the Post Office and the local newspaper. The addition of national retailers at the West End of the City in Marquette Township is establishing Marquette as a regional shopping center and tends to generate additional traffic into downtown specialty shops. According to recent statistics the current trade area includes approximately 200,689 persons.
The downtown is experiencing a resurgence of growth and private investment. Over the last ten years more than $60 million of private and $12 million of public investment has occurred. The investment in downtown properties is reflected in a doubling of the assessed value of the downtown district properties during the same time period. Marquette, on the shore of Lake Superior, is the largest city in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Offering unmatched quality of life, the City serves as a regional center for shopping, entertainment, culture, government, health care, and education.
Top 5 Best Places to Retire, Money Magazine, 2011
Top Ten "Winter Wonderlands" in which to retire, U.S. News and
World Report,2011
National Medal, Peter White Public Library, Institute of Museum and
Library Services, 2011
Top-performing Michigan cities at attracting and retaining entrepreneurs, U. Mich Dearborn iLabs, 2009, 2010, 2011
Ten Best Small Cities to Raise a Family (No. 3), Forbes, 2010
Bicycle Friendly Community, Bronze Level, League of American Bicyclists, 2010
Best Places in U.S. to live and Bike, Bike Magazine, 2001, 2009
Dozen Distinctive Destinations, Fan Favorite, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2010
Best Spot in the U.S. to live for Outdoor Sportsmen (No. 2), Outdoor Life Magazine, 2008
10 Best Places to retire for Winter Sports Nuts, U.S. News and World Report,2008
Best of Four Seasons Destinations in Michigan, 2008
Premiere City in an "All-American County", 2003 Award
30 "Most Livable" by Partners for Livable Communities, 2004
100 Best Small Art Towns in America, 2004
Current Population of Marquette City: 21,355
Current Population of Marquette County: 67,694
Current Enrollment of Northern Michigan University:9,400
Median Age, Marquette City: 29.1 years
