Murray first came to national attention in 1984 with the publication of Losing Ground: American Social Policy 1950–1980. Murray is best known for The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life the controversial, best-selling 1994 book that he wrote with the late Harvard professor Richard J. Herrnstein. Its central point is that intelligence is a better predictor of many factors including financial income, job performance, unwed pregnancy, and crime than one's parents' socio-economic status or education level. Much of the controversy erupted from Chapters 13 and 14, where the authors write about the enduring differences in race and intelligence and discuss implications of that difference.

His latest book, Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality, was released on August of 2008. With four simple truths as his framework,(1. Ability varies; 2. Half of the children are below average; 3. Too many people are going to college; and 4. America’s future depends on how we educate the academically gifted) Charles Murray sweeps away the hypocrisy, wishful thinking, and upside-down priorities that grip America’s educational establishment.