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

[Yealp]

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)

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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!' 🙄

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

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.

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

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

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.

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?

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

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

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

Definitely is, small mortgage and huge amount if disposable income

I would say no because where in the UK does one live that £1k a month mortgage is possible? What's the total value of the property? We pay £250k annually in rent. Feel we're just middle class.

£250k a year in rent is not "just" middle class by any definition that I've ever encountered. Do you mean £25k?

Hmm if he was truely UMC/ UC he qould have had a mate with an empty flat/ spare room in central London.

And they will be firmly MC. We did this, DS is at Oxbridge he is now much posher than me in most of his attitudes.

I don't think that works, we will own our house outright soon (aged 45). It's a 300k 3 bed. I don't think that makes us rich. Working class area. Partner earns good wage, I work part time. Surely it depends on the cost of the home. If it's 800k plus then your rich I'd say. I don't really understand these threads. We don't live in 1920s who cares about classes anymore.

3k disposable income and you don't think you're middle class....?
Read the room! You're either trolling or moving in very different circles!
I have a couple of hundred quid after food and bills, but I still see me as being middle/class and comfortable because I don't ever have to choose between heating or food.

No £250k for a £7.5m house but we live in Chelsea. Our house isn't particularly nice compared to the other school mums. Our basement kind of smells of damp, peeling and cracked paint, chipped moldings, etc. At two different schools, we've definitely been considered one of the lower income families. Not because we rent - we're expats so it's a tax thing.

You are mixing up social class with financial comfort. They aren’t the same thing. Is the main earner’s job a non-manual skilled one? Teacher, lawyer, head of HR etc?