North was born in Clinton, New York in 1848, graduating from Hamilton College in 1869. He went on to become editor of several newspapers, including the Utica Morning Herald and the Albany Express. In 1889, he became secretary of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers in Boston. This position gave him the opportunity to immerse himself in statistical analysis, especially the results of the manufacturing census of 1890. Additionally, North spent much of the latter half of the 1890’s in Washington, where he defended the interests of the wool industry during tariff revisions in 1894 and 1897.

North was the chief statistician of the 1900 census, and became director of the new Census Bureau in 1903. This was a critical time at the new agency; formed only a year before, it was transferred from the Department of the Interior to the newly created Department of Commerce and Labor.

As an agency within the Department of the Interior, the Census Bureau was given a large amount of free reign. This changed with its move to the new department, where North often disagreed with Secretary George Cortelyou, who took a more active supervisory role than his predecessors. North resigned shortly before the census in 1910.

After his time as director of the Census Bureau, North returned to publishing for a short time before becoming assistant secretary of the Carnegie Institute for Peace in 1911. He stayed at this position until he retired in 1921, dying in Connecticut three years later.