North Pole was home to two oil refineries, the town's major industry aside from tourism, but closed because of sulfolane contamination in groundwater.

The larger refinery, operated by Flint Hills Resources, was a major source of jet fuel for Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

Tanker car traffic on the Alaska Railroad, entering and leaving the refinery, frequently bisects the city.

The area that formed the central city of North Pole was homesteaded in 1944 by Bon V. and Bernice Davis.

In 1952, Dahl and Gaske Development Company purchased the Davis homestead, subdivided it, and renamed it North Pole, in hopes of attracting a toy manufacturer to the area.

The town's economy largely depended on these two businesses until the 1970s, when the current four-lane Richardson Highway was built, bypassing Davis Subdivision, which was effectively its downtown.

A standalone high school and increased subdivision development in previously rural areas immediately outside the city followed before the real estate market temporarily collapsed during the 1980s.

In the late 2000s, the northern portion of Santa Claus Lane was rebuilt to accommodate three consecutive roundabouts, serving the interchange and a nearby frontage road intersection.

These improvements eliminated a number of at-grade access points to the Richardson, which had accumulated a decades-long history of serious accidents.

[7] Death in Santaland, a TV documentary about the town and the foiled school shooting plot, was made by the British journalist Jon Ronson and broadcast on the television channel More 4 in 2007.

[9] The city council consists of six members serving staggered three-year terms, with municipal elections held each October.

[10] In 2022, the city council consists of Santa Claus (2019–2022), Aino Welch (2020–2023), DeJohn Cromer (2020–2023), David Skipps (2021–2024), and Anton Keller (2021–2024).

In 2014, Americans for Prosperity quickly pulled an ad campaign in Alaska after Koch Industries closed the Flint Hills Resources Refinery in North Pole.

North Pole is the recommended city name for all of ZIP Code 99705,[12] which stretches between Fort Wainwright and Eielson Air Force Base, and between the Chena River and the Tanana River, including the census-designated places of Badger, which spans subdivisions connecting the eastern edge of Fairbanks and North Pole, and Moose Creek.

Temperatures in North Pole are heavily affected by the amount of sunlight with almost no seasonal lag effect from solar radiation.

North Pole's Santa Claus House is actually closed during the week in January and February due to extreme cold in those months.

Due to being landlocked and protected by mountain ranges from marine influences, North Pole, much like the rest of the Alaskan Interior, sees little seasonal lag and much greater seasonal temperature swings than areas along the coast such as Anchorage, with winters that can dip to many tens of degrees below zero Fahrenheit with average lows remaining below 0 from November 5 to March 18, and summers that see many days in the 70s, 80s, and on occasion, even 90s F. Extreme temperatures range from −67 °F (−55 °C) on January 5–6, 1975 up to 95 °F (35 °C) on June 15, 1969, and June 25, 1983; the record cold daily maximum is −62 °F (−52 °C), set on January 6, 1975, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum is 66 °F (19 °C) on June 22, 1987.

In 2008 House District 11, which comprises the North Pole area, gave John McCain 7,736 votes (78.4% of the total) to Barack Obama's 1,924 (19.5%).