Sjoberg was born in Chicago, Illinois. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1933 and his master's degree from the University of Chicago in 1937. He earned his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1941. He wrote three books:
- *The Preindustrial City: Past and Present* (1960)
- *The Comparative Method in the Social Sciences* (1960)
- *Sociology of Talcott Parsons* (1967)