Is this a (financially) middle class household these days or not?

Surely its how much left after tax a MONTH is the giveaway?

Wow,thats a toff, my income is 11k a YEAR !

Meep, that is both a huge monthly wage and a huge mortgage! I’d say ‘upper middle’ at the least!

class is more nuanced than income. I've posted this a couple of times before:

When there are discussions about county lines and gang knife violence, are you a concerned citizen or worried about your son?

You're throwing your usual NYE party. Which member of the school staff is most likely to be there: the headteacher, the teaching assistant or the caretaker?

Taking a shortcut through the churchyard you encounter the vicar. Which greeting do you use?
Evening Welby
Hello Justin
Good evening Mr Welby
Evening Vicar

Of all the hospitality establishments within 5 miles of your home, which would you feel uncomfortable walking into?

What's your social relationship with the school governors? with the PTA?

Your next-door neighbour tells you that her niece is applying for nursing courses. Do you consider this an aspirational career choice?

Similarly (a real-life example here) if someone at a hobby group said an acquaintance was a recently-qualified engineer "earning masses - about 23 thousand" [this was about 2019] would you and your spouse carefully not catch the eye of the chief instructor?

Has any of your domestic arrangements been criticised on Mumsnet for being (a) chavvy or (b) posh?

Yup. My DS is in a very mixed (demographicly) state secondary and on track to smash his exams.

He’s considering the top unis and is extremely focused on high achievement. Solidly socialist parents here. Wouldn’t dream of sending him private!

We aren’t loaded. We don’t work in the corporate sector. But we are absolutely encouraging aspirations in all of our children.

Agreed. Also, finding the idea that you only have aspirations if you go/want to go to private school completely bizarre.

You can, of course, also be firmly middle-class and solidly against private education.

These posts always make me feel like i must be in a terrible financial situation compared to others. Down south average mortgage repayments on a 4 bedroom house are over 2k per month. That is the reality. People have no clue how hard it is and there is barely any money left over even on a decent household income. 1k per month on a mortgage is great in my eyes with that income.

class is utterly irrelevant nowadays

it's just a dated concept in the UK to help the educated who are not as wealthy as they used to be (comparatively) feel better about themselves over the uneducated raking it in electricians (some of them have tattoos for goodness sake)

one of the nicest guys I know is a plumber who would/has drive 50 miles in a blizzard to try and get a vulnerable customer's heating back on, he is also loaded, I doubt he knows what the Booker Prize is

whereas can get an educated, well-read toff who wouldn't even open their door and give a neighbour some bread in the same blizzard

it's a load of made-up, snobbish, utter kak nonsense to make some people with useless degrees feel they are more useful or higher in society

although it is quite amusing to read that some people still think like this

This whole thread is based on a total misappropriation of the meaning of the word 'class'! 😏
Income and outgoings have absolutely nothing to do with it, some one else made a great analogy concerning some definitely NOT 'middle class' extremely wealthy celebrities, footballers etc. and another poster put it in a nutshell when they said that 'Class has little bearing on income!' 🙄

What a weird topic and thread. Why put it out there? Just ask ChatGPT as this is like clickbait.

Class isn’t about money, and it’s unclear what middle class is supposed to be. But, does it matter?

When you board your Yorkshire Airlines flight do you turn right (Working Class cabin) or left (Alan Bennett class?).

To be fair, a 4 bed house is a huge house for one adult and one child. Your mortgage payment would be considerably smaller if you had a smaller, 2 or 3-bed house.

That mirrors my house as well. Told my daughter that when I went on holiday with parents we’d never visit the places we go with her ie art galleries, museums etc and she was really shocked.

Snap, we did the same, then bought another more expensive house and paid it off ten years later.

'Class' is becoming less relevant to the vast majority.
Still important to some people but more commonly not.
There are less barriers to education than 100 years ago and even 50 years ago.
Manual jobs can now out-earn 'professional' jobs.
Having a degree doesn't automatically = success and higher wages as it did even 30 years ago.
Class is morphing

The English really are obsessed with class. Most people are working class. The upper class are the landed gentry who own everything. The middle class are just the wannabes in the middle. Then the underclass who want everyone else to pay for them to live.

😂 😂

Does it matter? Do people go around describing themselves as middle class?

Assuming you still think it’s a Thing (as many do) TBH financial status has little to do with class. Plenty of MC people are pretty skint.

Class isn't about income and outgoings - it's usually defined by the family generations. Having said that - her circumstances is typical of middle-class. And those saying 1k month on mortgage is a lot - I personally think that is less than most. I have a 4 bed detatched, daughter, income of 4.7k after tax and paying 1.3k a month (alone). Difference is, I have a partner who I also support. She's doing well considering.

Huge salary though. My take home is £3.9k and my mortgage contribution is £1k. What’s the difference?

I know very few working class people in council houses, you can’t get them. Lots in private rented houses/flats, some (like myself) in affordable homes with mortgage, despite minimum wage employment.

3k is more than mine and my partners total income 😂 (we feel fine financially by the way).

Mortgage Paid off is not a sign of middle class, it’s a sign of being in your 50s/60s if you’re lucky. I think it’s really common for middle class families to have big mortgages.