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Marcus is a city in western Cherokee County, Iowa, and the county's second most populous community.

Marcus was named for Marcus L. Blair, a son of railroad magnate John Insley Blair, who built the Iowa Falls and Sioux City railroad line through the area.

Railroad crews reached the Marcus site in November 1869, the first depot was completed in the spring of 1870, and regular train service began that October.

The town of Marcus was surveyed in August 1870 as a settlement of just four blocks, and its plat was recorded in Cherokee County on November 27, 1871.

The first building in Marcus was erected in 1871, and the first post office opened inside the railroad depot in 1870.

Marcus was incorporated on May 15, 1882.

Marcus's first school opened in the fall of 1873 in a room of the I.M. Jackson home with just ten pupils, and a dedicated school building followed in 1874.

The 2020 census counted 1,079 people in Marcus, living in 487 households and 305 families.

Marcus's population peaked at 1,307 in 1960 and has eased downward in every census since.

Marcus sits at the junction of State Highways 3 and 143, about 45 miles northeast of Sioux City, and grew up as a railroad shipping point for surrounding farms.