You should note that Chess.com ratings don't compare well to FIDE or USCF ratings. The pool of players is completely different, with certain factors (computer cheating, distractions) being totally different.
Therefore, if you have, say, a FIDE rating of 1700, you can't ever expect also having a chess.com rating of 1700. Just don't try comparing them :)
PureJay said it best. Like comparing Words with Friends to a game of Scabble. The tiles just don't add up the same.
I realized recently, that on chess.com, tournament players are often times much higher caliber players than those with the same rating that don't play tournaments. When I first joined chess.com, I never played any tournaments and my rating shot up to 1600+. Then I started playing in (10 rapid and 15/10 standard) tournaments and my rating plummeted to what it is now (upper 1400s) and I got beaten by players who were rated over a hundred points lower than me many times, and had a hard time raising my rating. I was very puzzled by that. Then after months of playing in tournaments, I went back to playing non-tournament games (on chess.com) and noticed that I beat people of my rating quite handily. Then I realized, that the tournaments draw more dedicated, stronger players. Add to that, I'm doing Tactics Trainer and having problems solving 1500+ puzzles. I am guessing the average of one's online tournament rating and TT rating minus 100 to 300 points would be close to one's USCF or FIDE rating.
I signed up for a membership so have been able to play in multiple tournaments at once, and one thing I am finding is it seems there are some players in these tournaments with much higher ratings than their play would warrant.
And I am seeing a lot of players like this, am I the only one who notices this? The problem with it is now I am becoming one of those players, because I am beating people with ratings higher than they should have, it is bringing my rating up higher than it probably should be!
Are there some people who are only playing in tournaments and somehow get ratings bumps due to some loophole or something? Just curious.