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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

291 replies

Yealp · 12/01/2026 21:18

I don’t think so, my best friend thinks it’s completely middle class.

Income after tax per month 5,200
Household one adult and one dc
Mortgage payment 1k a month, equity 350k (4 bed detached)

OP posts:
Allisnotlost1 · 13/01/2026 00:38

Zobra · 12/01/2026 23:17

It doesn’t matter no but I’m bored and find it interesting. I’ve read a lot about it, mostly on this site and the football thing is something I read on here 🤷🏼‍♀️ didn’t even know what middle class or working class were till I read some thread on here then went down a rabbit hole. don’t hate a girl for her hobbies

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No hate - but not much of a hobby! If you genuinely find it interesting there’s more stimulating sources. This might entertain you https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3qF356d7d2D6h98CdCWxf8z/ten-words-that-prove-you-arent-posh

Football is so expensive to watch (on tv or in person) that it’s become very middle class.

BBC Radio 4 - Seriously..., Seriously... - Ten words that prove you aren't posh

Just how common is your language? These words show if you are U or Non-U.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3qF356d7d2D6h98CdCWxf8z/ten-words-that-prove-you-arent-posh

WeekendMillionaire · 12/01/2026 23:42

It's not what you have left over after making payments towards a house (or shoes or holidays or school fees or gin) that makes you financially middle class - it's having that money available in the first place before you've done the spending.

InterestedDad37 · 12/01/2026 23:29

idontcareabouttennis · 12/01/2026 21:20

Class is very little to do with income (Wayne Rooney is never going to be anything other than working class, for example, even though he is loaded) - but I’d say that’s a fairly ‘middle’ income

Edited

Absolutely this! I slowly became middle class when I settled down with my now ex and began raising a family. She very much came from that background, and I embraced it.
People are usually very surprised if they meet my siblings/other relatives, who didn't go through that process 😂
Income has very little to do with it.

SoSoLong · 12/01/2026 23:27

Yealp · 12/01/2026 21:25

@Purpleturtle45 i guess mortgage paid off? Bit more disposable income as I guess after bills the actual disposable is more like 3k

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I don't get this. I paid my mortgage off when I was 42. Does that mean I suddenly became middle class then? What class was I at 41?

WhatAreYouDoingSundayBaby · 12/01/2026 23:26

Oh wow OP, so you think this is LESS than middle class?!! I thought you were going to say it was really wealthy!

£5200 income after tax is a massive wage for one person to earn, and 1k mortgage payment is not high, certainly not for a four bedroom house. Bloody hell, mine is £840 for a one-bed flat.

suki1964 · 12/01/2026 23:23

Some very weird ideas about "class " I have to say

inickedthisname · 12/01/2026 23:20

noworklifebalance · 12/01/2026 21:58

But that’s not how class is defined. Rich does not equal upper class. The middle class can definitely be renting.

Edited
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One of the wealthiest and poshest people I know rented a house on a really swanky road in London because he was only going to be in the area for 6 months and had enough money to throw away.

Sohelpmegod25 · 12/01/2026 23:19

We don’t bring home that much as a couple! I’d say very middle classed!!!!!

Blump2783 · 12/01/2026 23:19

Yealp · 12/01/2026 21:23

@Octavia64 i think that’s a huge mortgage payment for one adult personally!!

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You clearly have no idea what people are having to pay for housing nowadays.

Zobra · 12/01/2026 23:17

Allisnotlost1 · 12/01/2026 23:08

With all kindness, does it matter? You’ve said you have a ‘relatively posh’ accent, then a ‘really posh’ accent, think housing benefit and young parenthood is ‘underclass’ but that you’d be working class if you liked football? I can’t tell if you’re on a wind up or really this self-obsessed. Read a book, figure it out.

Edited
Show quote history

It doesn’t matter no but I’m bored and find it interesting. I’ve read a lot about it, mostly on this site and the football thing is something I read on here 🤷🏼‍♀️ didn’t even know what middle class or working class were till I read some thread on here then went down a rabbit hole. don’t hate a girl for her hobbies

TheCompactPussycat · 12/01/2026 23:16

Yealp · 12/01/2026 21:23

@Octavia64 i think that’s a huge mortgage payment for one adult personally!!

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Really? Rent for a room in uni halls, albeit with a tiny en-suite shower room, in a flat with 7 others and a shared kitchen is around £900 per month at both DD's and DS's unis.

GKG1 · 12/01/2026 23:15

idontcareabouttennis · 12/01/2026 21:20

Class is very little to do with income (Wayne Rooney is never going to be anything other than working class, for example, even though he is loaded) - but I’d say that’s a fairly ‘middle’ income

Edited

This. Class is about culture more than income.

Swissmeringue · 12/01/2026 23:10

NotMeAtAll · 12/01/2026 23:08

I take home £80,000 per month. Am I poor?

How do you make ends meet? Have you checked if you're entitled to any top up benefits?

Di2071 · 12/01/2026 23:10

idontcareabouttennis · 12/01/2026 21:20

Class is very little to do with income (Wayne Rooney is never going to be anything other than working class, for example, even though he is loaded) - but I’d say that’s a fairly ‘middle’ income

Edited

Yes, I find it hard to believe I’d be seen as middle class given my background. But we get through a lot of avocados with the kids so I must be. However, I grew up on Fray Bentos pies.

Allisnotlost1 · 12/01/2026 23:09

NotMeAtAll · 12/01/2026 23:08

I take home £80,000 per month. Am I poor?

Barely working class mate.

Sunshine1500 · 12/01/2026 23:09

Unless your income is from only fans I’d say you have a middle class profession/income

NotMeAtAll · 12/01/2026 23:08

I take home £80,000 per month. Am I poor?

Allisnotlost1 · 12/01/2026 23:08

Zobra · 12/01/2026 22:51

I don’t actually remember what most of his jobs were. The rent must of been paid through housing benefit which I know makes me sound underclass but I have a really posh accent and growing up mother was always in the middle of some orthorexic diet craze and had extensive disdain for potatoe smiley face eating people which is apparently a middle class trait.

According to what I read on other threads I’m either under class or middle class. Between those two would be working class but I have nothing in common at all with any of the working class interests and things. So yes pretty confusing

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With all kindness, does it matter? You’ve said you have a ‘relatively posh’ accent, then a ‘really posh’ accent, think housing benefit and young parenthood is ‘underclass’ but that you’d be working class if you liked football? I can’t tell if you’re on a wind up or really this self-obsessed. Read a book, figure it out.

Swissmeringue · 12/01/2026 23:07

Ooooookay · 12/01/2026 23:06

I’m sure the avocados on toast secured you a middle class husband so you could have middle class children so not in vein 😂😂😂

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laughs in Boden

Ooooookay · 12/01/2026 23:06

Zobra · 12/01/2026 23:02

As a child I thought I was well off because I had a bigger house than all my friends, tidier too although obviously it costs nothing to clean your house but you know how kids think.
As a young adult I realised there were people who grew up a lot richer than me.
But then I discovered mumsnet! There’s probably 1000 threads about middle vs working class personality traits and hobbies 😂 confusion reigned again. Are you telling me the avocados on toast was meaningless

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I’m sure the avocados on toast secured you a middle class husband so you could have middle class children so not in vein 😂😂😂

IridiumSky · 12/01/2026 23:06

Meaningless question.

There is no connection between class and money.

Ballycastle · 12/01/2026 23:06

You know fine well it is. I earn that over 3 months as a carer

inickedthisname · 12/01/2026 23:05

anonlawyer · 12/01/2026 21:36

We are all working class these days. If you are reliant on your wage to pay your bills how are you anything else.

Yes, if you work for a living you are working class imo. My dad always used to say “you don’t become an aristocrat by earning more money.”

pottymouth40 · 12/01/2026 23:03

Passwordsaremynemesis · 12/01/2026 23:00

The mumsnet obsession about class never fails to baffle me. Who gives a fuck if your mum worked down the mines, or you have a million dollar mortgage, or you keep ferrets, or went to public school! It doesn’t matter, why the endless rehashing of it?

I went to school with a boy who kept ferrets down his trousers 😂

Zobra · 12/01/2026 23:02

Ooooookay · 12/01/2026 22:55

You are working class, it sounds like your mother had aspirations for being middle class but you are working class. Having middle class hobbies and interests doesn’t make you middle class. If you were boarder line middle class/working class maybe they might tip you one way or the other but you are clearly working class. My husband is also working class and his parents also had aspirations and he has middle class hobbies and interests but he is still working class.

Show quote history

As a child I thought I was well off because I had a bigger house than all my friends, tidier too although obviously it costs nothing to clean your house but you know how kids think.
As a young adult I realised there were people who grew up a lot richer than me.
But then I discovered mumsnet! There’s probably 1000 threads about middle vs working class personality traits and hobbies 😂 confusion reigned again. Are you telling me the avocados on toast was meaningless