diff --git a/cmdstanpy/model.py b/cmdstanpy/model.py
index 873bff09..1f40a624 100644
--- a/cmdstanpy/model.py
+++ b/cmdstanpy/model.py
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
     do_command,
     get_logger,
     returncode_msg,
+    macos_make_arch,
 )
 
 from . import progress as progbar
@@ -413,7 +414,10 @@ def compile(
                 'MAKE',
                 'make' if platform.system() != 'Windows' else 'mingw32-make',
             )
+
             cmd = [make]
+            if sys.platform == 'darwin':
+                cmd = macos_make_arch() + cmd
             if self._compiler_options is not None:
                 cmd.extend(self._compiler_options.compose())
             cmd.append(Path(exe_file).as_posix())
diff --git a/cmdstanpy/utils.py b/cmdstanpy/utils.py
index 03b7357b..5a1403b5 100644
--- a/cmdstanpy/utils.py
+++ b/cmdstanpy/utils.py
@@ -1478,3 +1478,16 @@ def __enter__(self) -> Tuple[str, bool]:
     def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_val, exc_tb) -> None:  # type: ignore
         if self._tmpdir:
             shutil.rmtree(self._tmpdir, ignore_errors=True)
+
+
+def macos_make_arch() -> List[str]:
+    """Determine what `arch -arm64` prefix required for `make` invocations."""
+    if sys.platform != 'darwin':
+        return []
+    cmd = ['file', cmdstan_path() + '/bin/stansummary']
+    out = subprocess.check_output(cmd).decode('ascii').strip()
+    match = re.search(r"Mach-O 64-bit executable (.*?)$", out)
+    if match:
+        arch, = match.groups()
+        return ['arch', '-' + arch]
+    return []