Bogue was born in Utah and raised on a farm near Independence, Missouri.
[3][4] After World War II ended, Bogue authored the 1949 doctoral dissertation The Structure of the Metropolitan Community: A Study of Dominance and Subdominance under the direction of Amos Hawley at the University of Michigan.
[5][6] Bogue began his research work in 1947, with the Scripps Foundation for Research in Population Problems at Miami University, then joined the University of Chicago in 1954, where he became a full professor in 1958 and remained for the rest of his career.
[7] Bogue was the president of the Population Association of America from 1963 to 1964,[8] and founded the organization's flagship academic journal, Demography, serving as chief editor from 1964 to 1968.
[1][2] A collection of Bogue's papers is held at the University of Chicago Library.