Who are the squeezed middle?

[Thisisanewnamename]

I know the squeezed middle is a bit of a contentious term here on MN but as it’s common parlance, let just roll with it for the thread.

In terms of household income who are the squeezed middle? Obviously there’s variation here for location, children, mortgage/ rent. Given that the average uk mortgage is around £750 a month. What is the salary range (before tax) for the squeezed middle. DH and I have an average life I’d say (average mortgage, average usage bills wise, average family size you know) but I think we’re probably a bit above average in terms of household income and yet we can barely make money stretch. I think maybe households that earn under £100k?

am I the squeezed middle? I think I must be, household income is definitely under £100k. Is there a definition of the squeezed middle?

I think we may be the squeezed middle.
Joint income of 80k. 1k mortgage but we do pay as much as we can and could remortgage to a longer term. 1k nursery for1 child.
We own our old cars outright and have nothing on finance. Everything is second hand and from marketplace etc.
This is the second house that we are DIY renovating because we can't afford to pay builders. All of our 'spare' money goes on that.
We haven't been on holiday for 4 years and probably won't for another 3, when baby is in school. The thought of further energy price rises in October terrifies me as we are down to 0 every month.
Our income is something I could only dream of when younger. I grew up on a council estate with nothing and feel so lucky to be where I am now, even if I feel we 'should' be able to afford more. It's a funny one.

I feel v much squeezed! Combined income of £90k but £1600pcm on child care alone, £1000 on mortgage.

childcare Is truly astounding isn’t it, we’re able to limit the damage with condensed hrs but in truth we’re working 7am- 9pm to make up the hrs and it’s exhausting

@roarfeckingroarr ever considered looking after your own children? Why pay so much money not to see your own dc.

But your version of being careful might be very different to others. On 140k you can be careful but still enjoy yourself and don’t have to think about it.

Weve a combined income of 45-50k ish,
2 children, mortgage, their extra-curricular activities, some childcare, bills etc. I try and be careful with money, tend to choose a takeaway over a meal out due to cost although that might have to stop. I barely buy any new clothes, make up etc. Buy secondhand toys where possible. Don’t consider myself struggling but I do feel ‘squeezed’ and recognise that they’ll be many people properly struggling on a lot less than us.

Slightly jealous of some of the mortgages on here, ours is over £1300 for a small 3 bed that needs stuff doing to it. We love it though and it will be worth it in the end, just wish we could've bought it at the prices of 10 years ago! I think the average may be higher than £850 here, could be wrong though.

I think we'd be the 'squeezed middle' ..if we had kids in childcare. Both earn 25k, rent but have also been saving for a deposit. If we were paying out close to a 1k a month on childcare we'd be in serious trouble.. as it is we can save less (and as a result I've no idea now if we'll ever own as we are already in our early 40s) but we'll manage and definitely feels like we are in a much better position than a lot of people.

What a silly and quite loaded comment!

perhaps because as painful as it is, the childcare burden is a temporary one whereas if you give up work it can be very difficult to go back?
maybe for mental health reasons?
maybe for other benefits such as NI and pension scheme?

sorry not talking for you @roarfeckingroarr the comment just rubbed me the wrong way

But you said you had 900 left over but things kept breaking so you only end up with 500.

We have 60 between us for all of the things you mentioned. When energy goes up again that's more than wiped out for us. So yeah if I had 900 on a good month and 500 on a bad month I would be over the moon!

I think we were the squeezed middle (or maybe squeezed bottom!) before i split with my husband. Our joint income was just high enough to get no benefits but we had very little to spare. I'm honestly better off now we're separated. I get a universal credit, reduced council tax etc. I can see how unfair this seems and I'm certainly not well off. But I really feel for people in the "just not poor enough for any help" bracket.

Unemployed - £4018 a year.
Minimum wage - £19760
Average wage £31k a year
Someone on 50k gets £4166 a month, which is more than the yearly unemployment benefit.
Half top 1% income £85k a year.
Top 1% anyone earning £170k a year.

In that context, around 85k is a middle earner.

A household income of 25-50k - the median household income is around 31k after taxes- so a bit either side must be middle.

Someone on 50k doesn’t get over 4K a month take home, speaking from experience on student loan plan a it’s about 2.8k

Well said op.

Answering the squeezed middle question, my assumption was that it was aimed at households with an income of £50-70k ish. Average income being £29k. Maybe one works in a sector that's not had a decent pay rise for a decade, so disposable income reduced. With an average mortgage like your said in your opening post.

However my household income is £65k, mortgage £600, and dare I say we're not feeling too squeezed yet. So imo the other outgoings are the critical thing in feeling squeezed. Childcare being the biggie. Luckily I don't have to pay any.

The posts on here from single income households, this is really difficult I know from friends in this position. I wouldn't class this as squeezed middle though. Similarly people saying incomes over £100k I find it hard to class that as middle. That's not to say you can't feel squeezed.

I agree with this. Not those with incomes over £70k!!

@LilacPoppy what a ridiculous comment. You have no idea whether the poster needs to continue to work for various reasons (mortgage, pension, potential maternity leave). Childcare costs aren’t forever so leaving work might not be that right decision for them in the long-term.

Childcare exists so that people can work, and I would have thought on a site with predominantly female users, we would empower and support each other’s choice to work full time or not.l - not guilt trip working mums!

Your comment reeks of jealousy.

All the figures given are pre tax and don't include student loan plans that not everyone has.

I thought that obvious. Apologies if it wasn't.

I'd say the squeezed middle are those just above being able to receive help like free school meals, uniform grants, and any type of government assistance, but earn to low to have a healthy disposable income after primary debt is payed such as mortgage, council tax and water.

I mean if you take home £2.5k a month but pay a £750 mortgage plus rising utilities of £300 , council tax £200, then childcare of £700+ you really haven't got much left to your name to pay for food, clothes, and the car have you.

I consider us to be the squeezed middle - combined income of 80k, 1k per month mortgage, carrying debt from previous unemployment and currently pregnant and expecting at least 1k per month childcare costs.

By the time 2x student loan and pension is taken from our combined wages, take-home isn’t as much as you’d think (though I acknowledge it’s not a low wage - that’s why I’d say we are middling).

I am genuinely scared about losing our home due to the energy price rises, and the knock-on effects on things like nursery fees.

We’re definitely having to cut back on eating out, food shopping, holidays, gift buying, transport, days out and beauty treatments. Yes they are luxuries and I’m not complaining in that I know there are people who have it much worse. But this thread is about middle incomes and without people on these incomes keeping service industries alive, what do you think is going to happen to people on lower incomes?

My job is stressful and often requires long hours. It takes away the incentive to study for professional jobs when you ultimately end up scraping buy to pay for childcare and a roof over your head anyway.

I would say I fall into that
Single and income varies but 22-25k

Squeezed middle is definitely those who earn just enough not to need benefits but have not much left over for anything else at the end of the month. So, 30-50k I would say.
tbis has been us for the last 15 years, ive been self employed or low income since my kids were babies - now I’m finally in a position to work more now the kids are at high school and can be latch key, and all my extra earnings will be swallowed up in bills increases. It’s just depressing. Me 10 years ago would’ve been over the moon with our current income as we would actually have been able to afford a holiday that wasn’t in a tent. Me now is just desperately trying to pay off debt before the energy prices cycle higher!
yes I probably could have earned more earlier, but then I would have been paying out for childcare.

I hate that child benefit isn’t means tested on household income though and that many families who have a joint income of £40,000 more than us continue to be able to claim the full amount.

I hate this too ☹️

We’re in the same position, DH earns 55k and is classed as a ‘high earner’ even though that is our entire household income. I’m a disabled SAHM, and DH has to financially support me and DS 8 from his wage. We lose half of our child benefit through tax assessment. We definitely feel squeezed trying to pay our mortgage of just under £1k and now the enormous hike in energy prices and food. Truss promised to reform the way people were taxed taking into account household income rather than individual income, but she’s probably changed her mind yet again.

We bought our house in 2016 it's a semi ex LA home for 134k it's now worth 200k. We will move with in the next few years to a larger home from our savings but we could have mortgaged to the absolute max and lived in a very large home 3-4 years ago but we decided against it. We didn't want to be living beyond our means it's paid off to wait and be secure. I think a lot of people on middle incomes live beyond their means I see so many people with 22 plate range rovers trying to keep up with the neighbours.

Me three. DPs income was classed as over 50k for tax purposes and we lost it for a while. This was because he had an old company car and a fuel card and it amounted to about 15k on his tax bill. It was panic stations at that point, because we really relied on that CB money.
luckily we persuaded his employer to let him go to a van and it’s made a huge difference to us now he no longer has that tax burden.