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

Almost in the top 10% of household incomes in the UK.
Taking into account household size and composition (click here to see how), we have calculated your position in the income distribution.
With a household after tax income of £1162 per week, you have a higher income than around 89% of the population - equivalent to about 60.1 million individuals.

£1k is not a big mortgage payment. Ours is £2.1k and I thought that was pretty low these days. I think we're only paying off £275k at that level, and that no longer buys anything round here. Our house cost a lot more than that, w@e brought equity from a previous house on which we had paid off half the mortgage.

That presumably means £1k only gets you about a £130k house?

I couldn’t agree more with this. If you need to work to continue to maintain your life then you are working class. If you can stop working and continue on as you were then no.

I think the link between income and class is a circular correlation rather than causation per se - higher levels of education tend to mean the opportunity to earn more. If your parents earn more, you are more likely to be afforded extra curricular opportunities which add to education opportunities.

For example, my DD does various types of dance and the exams count towards her UCAS points - she wants to go into a very competitive field, so those extra points may give her an advantage over someone who has the same academic potential but who did not have access to the extra curricular activities.

It's also about expectations - I have no idea why my parents really encouraged me towards uni - none of my aunts and uncles on either side gave my cousins that sort of encouragement, but I don't remember a time when that wasn't their expectation for me.

It's way to complex to simply say X salary or x size house = middle class.

Depends what they do to earn that much,ie their jobs, also level of education.
Some people fit in between.n. Plenty of 'middle class' are strapped for cash and live in small houses.

Does it matter?

On a facebook group for older people (who do a lot of moaning and talking about the 'good old days' with weekly tin baths and outside loos :)), a fellow poster told me I couldn't have been 'working class' because I grew up in a decent house. That's absolute nonsense. My dad was a printer all his working life. Yes our little house was decent, modest, two up two down with bathroom and toilet upstairs, kitchen down and we had gardens back and front but it was ordinary. There were many others who were 'working class' who lived the same. Not everyone 'working class' was on the breadline. I dread to think what she would have said had I mentioned we had a car!

One would hope those class distinctions were left behind by now but they are not.

I remember doing a bit of sociology at school and learning that there were lower, middle and upper working class, same with middle class. :-)

Who gives a ff?

I'll bite. Only as a pensioner have I ever bust the the £1k pm &: I had a mortgage too! You're in a very nice position - be grateful.

Not when you have so much leftover every month . I have about £500 after bills mortgage etx

It sounds comfortable enough to me for a family with only one adult & child. They have a spacious house which more than meets their needs. 350k of equity with a mortgage payment of only 1k a month implies a relatively low loan to value mortgage, a sign of financial stability. Its an affordable mortgage payment on that income and leaves enough disposable income for a decent lifestyle with hobbies, owning and running a modest car and an annual holiday. No they are not rich but how on earth is it not "financially middle class"?

No, doesn't need to ask. Smacks of bragging to me, so seems more like little class.

I'd say i'm firmly middle class, based on my education (2 degrees), dad's occupation and maternal grandfathers occupation, inheritance that i will get eventually.

I am immeniently going to be a single mum, mortgage of £420 per month based on £23k gross + another £10-15k that wasn't able to be included in the calculation (not onlyfans!!).

I'm surprised at comments that say that middle class is completely divorced from income. I always assumed they were quite closely related, with a couple of exceptions.

Upper class is clearly limited to those who are aristocratic or related to peers by birth or marriage. Totally separate to income, I agree.

However, the distinction between middle class and working class I always took as being related to education or earnings and not at all related to birth. This is what encourages aspiration in the UK, that everyone is able to achieve more than they are born to.

In which case, a single parent earning almost 100k would in my mind be middle class no matter what their family or job.

I was solidly working class when I was born but I worked damn hard to where I am which I think most would consider middle class and I am not ashamed of that.

The couple of exceptions I mentioned would be those working in creative industries such as artists and actors, where income is inherently unpredictable, and in those cases I would probably emphasise the relevance of education in determining whether an impoverised artist was working or middle class, but I do see that as a flaw in my logic.

Anyhow, OP is middle class in my view, however she earns her income.

with the interest rates and house prices where they are I don’t think it is huge at all. Fairly average I would think. The income of £5200 is high in my opinion, my mortgage is £800 a month and my income is £2200 (single parent household) I guess people will have different opinions depending on their own incomes.

Money has nothing to do with class, so you’ve gone wrong from the off. It’s a middle income household but impossible to tell if it is a middle class household.

Class is not about how much you earn or lifestyle, its about how you were raised.

We live a very middle class lifestyle - decent size house and mortgage, one of us in top 5% earners, the other top 20%. Kids do plenty of activities, disposable income etc.

Both DH and I come from totally working class backgrounds and were raised in low income, working class households. I was the first in my family to go to university. We will always be working class.

Our children however, are decidedly middle class and will always be so, even if they end up being lower earners.

The salary @Yealp quotes is around £90k gross which is top 10% of earners, nearing top 5%. With £350k equity plus mortgage, the total house value is above the average, even for the south east. They are therefore middle earners - but whether they are middle class or not depends on how they were raised.

Their child is almost certainly middle class though, and I fully suspect that like us they live a middle class lifestyle.

YAWN.

I don't know why so many people get hung up on 'Class' most of us go out to work to pay for our houses, cars, lifestyle etc.

My elder sister announce that my brother and I were working class and she was middle class as she had managed to retire at 55, her husband still had to go to work though to pay a mortgage.

Meanwhile I'm 'working class' single no mortgage, £400k flat, 2 cars and my own business with about £60k savings. I could stop work but, I enjoy what I do and it gives me something to do

I’m late to 20s and pay that, on less income. My mother is horrified. I think £1k mortgage is v normal for younger people, not so much for our parents’ generation

Do you think working class people have 3k a month disposable income? Really?

Indeed!

I was told that my class was dependent on my Father having secured Post Grad degrees, as have my Husband and I.

We have a healthy income and mortgage, pensions etc… but work in the Public Sector do earn less than our Tiler and carpet fitter who earn over £100k per year each without having secured A levels. Technically we are possibly upper middle class by virtue or our jobs and income… but it doesn’t change anything at all about how we live our lives!

I personally feel that class has very little relevance today, surely having a job you enjoy, living somewhere with people you see as neighbours and friends and being open to expanding your knowledge and enjoyment of new experiences are more important!

The old fashioned approach of assessing class is somewhat exclusionary, and doesn’t take into account social mobility!

Then there are other tells… do you privately educate your children? Have horses? Have staff to help with domestic chores such as a Nanny, Cleaner, etc….

Do you go to the pub or a theatre?
Do you read books or listen to podcasts?

The actual definition is:

The UK middle class is defined by
a blend of income (often £40k-£70k, but varying greatly), occupation (managers, professionals), lifestyle (homeownership, cultural activities), education, and perceived social status, rather than just salary. It represents a broad spectrum between the working and upper classes, with subjective factors like personal background and regional costs significantly influencing individual perceptions of being middle class, even for those on seemingly high incomes
.

Anyway…. Class or the perception of Class is irrelevant and doesn’t give an indication of what really matters, which is kindness, compassion and integrity!

I don't think it's your salary that makes you middle class

I dont think its that simple. Our monthly income is around £5500 , our home is around £460,000-470,000 we only have about £20k left on our mortgage So own about 96%

I am an ex teacher but currently doing another degree and working in a support worker *kind of role Hubby is military retired and working part time.

We are both from working class families, however our job roles and financial situation would put us firmly aa middle class (which I've always found odd) . I know class systems have evolved to be more about what you've achieved rather than where you've come from.
But I grew up working class so thats how I see myself.

If it was based on what your parents did growing up what if one worked a professional job and the other minimum wage? How do you describe a family where one parent is a professional and the other works a minimum wage job? What if it’s a family who argue regularly and split up and reconciled multiple times?

Isn't it funny, I would love people to think I was middle class (well not love but be slightly pleased) whilst my husband is proud working class. Income and interests wise we are middle class , I think the issue with me is that my mum and dad were working class and I (wrongly) associate that with not being interested in anything other than the pub ie going every single say and of walking round with ones top off when it gets warm and reading a rubbish newspaper but not reading books (top off , that was my dad though my mother would sunbathe topless in the garden).

I can't work out what they would be other than middle class? 90k a year is a high income, far higher than average and way above the income of lots of middle class professional jobs (teachers, doctors under Consultant level etc).

Surely you can't be asking if earning double the average salary for the country is a struggling wage?

Guidelines that were set for past generations don't really help people who live in London and the SE where rent is more than the 28%. My son pays £1k a month for a room in a 3 bed shared house in East London. It is more than half his current income but it is what it is.