Roy Peel was born in 1896 in Des Moines, Iowa. Service in World War I interrupted his college education; he was a second lieutenant in the Army Air Service. After the war, he completed his B.A., graduating from Augustana College in 1920. From there, Peel moved between teaching and post-graduate education, eventually earning a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1927.

While an assistant professor of government at New York University, Peel researched and wrote extensively, publishing several articles and books. By 1934, he was the director of research in public administration at NYU and had achieved the rank of full professor. In 1935, Peel began a nearly two-year research expedition to Scandinavia, planning to survey public administration in those countries. Returning to the United States in late 1936, he took a position at Indiana University.

During World War II, Peel worked for the government in a confidential civilian capacity. This tour of service included a stint as chief of the United States Information Service in Copenhagen in 1945. President Truman appointed him director of the Census Bureau in February 1950, only months before the decennial census. Peel stayed on at the Census Bureau until 1953, when he returned to the academic world. He took a position at California State University, Northridge, and taught there until his death in 1978.