Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 19,661 at the 2000 census, making it the most populated city of the Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, primarily for shipping iron ore and is the home of Northern Michigan University. The city of Marquette averages about 144 inches of snow per year, making it the third snowiest city in the contiguous United States among those cities large enough to be reported.