LOL this is tax data. This is the part where you hide as much income as you can and play up every possible expense you've ever made. Here's what they say: Here's what they mean: If your reported earnings after taxes, deferments and deductions are more than 30,000, then your reported earnings after taxes, deferments and deductions are more than 53.2% of Americans that even filed taxes. Also keep in mind: if you have a trust of any kind (college account, savings bonds, etc) you have to file taxes. I knew a half-dozen kids who had to file their taxes from the age of like 7 onward because they had rich grandparents. By these measurements, they probably earned less than $10,000. They also lived in 4000 sqft houses because their parents made phat stax. It's Huffington Post, doing what HuffPo do.If you make more than $30,000, you earn more than 53.2% of Americans.