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)

I think some people just know.

I’m absolutely working class. I grew up in a deprived council estate in the NE of England, on a diet of turkey twizzlers and chips. I spent my childhood playing out until my mum bellowed her kids names into the street, and my teenage years drinking in a park.

My income now is reasonably high. But I’d never drive a fancy car because it wouldn’t suit me. We still go on caravan holidays. If something goes up in price by 50p I’m not buying it. I’ve got a professional role, and a thick northern accent.

You just can’t take the working class out of some people.

No. It is quite evidently under class, not even reaching impoverished lower working class.

@Yealp Did you just get here from the telegraph?

I would say yes, £5200k a month and for 1 person, did you say? Yes, absolutely. Mortgage repayment is low (I was paying £1k+ a month in rent as a single person from about the age of 25), but a lot of equity.

By comparison, I’d say Dh and I collectively earn probably about £5k a month (as company directors so slightly different set up). We have 2 dc, so family of 4. Our mortgage is £1700 pcm on an £800k house (I’d guess about £500k equity at this point).

We are definitely middle class! But I’d say we’re very culturally middle class before financially we were in this position. Both privately educated, well traveled, professional careers, very middle class hobbies and social networks. Financially though I think that’s quite comfortable and secure.

A BMW these days seems more nouveau riche than middle class - happy to be corrected on that.
But class is a combination of all these subtleties and nuances - none of which should really matter.

Mortgages can be 4.5x income.
No idea why you think the max is £70k on a £30k income

Err because you’re not working class just because you work. A senior partner at a law firm will rely on their earnings to survive but is clearly not working class due to income and education levels.

Someone please class me. Shit job but married to man with a good job. Social circle very mixed. Like doing some things seen online described as pretentious and extremely middle class like making elaborate healthy dishes and forcing my kids to eat them. Like going on hikes. Like loads of stuff that was described as middle class on some other thread I read but had a kid at 16 so apparently underclass (read that on a thread too). Hate football hate love island.
anyway if you read all that please class me

Definitely

It's more than double minimum wage so I'd say on finances alone it is a middle class income.

Very middle class/ well off. Low mortgage payment, high equity, large disposable income, large house.

The mortgage is the giveaway because:

if you divide society roughly into three - the poor, the rich and the middling sort

then the poor do not have mortgages. They rent, either private rent or council

the rich own outright.

the middling sort have a house that they have a mortgage on.

A class bun fight!

I think it would be capped at between £120k and £150k, so a 20 year mortgage at 4.5% for £150 would just about make it the right number I think?

Football is no longer confined to the working class - it’s very much entrenched in the middle classes, too!
Love Island - no idea, I don’t know anyone who watches it.

Middle class as you’re married to a man with a good job. Having a child at 16 isn’t a determinant of class. Or you could have grown up working class but now be middle class due to your marriage.

Their mortgage might not be huge if equity is 350k. Mortgage might be 200k

You're not serious?! I was paying £1200 as a single adult and only taking home £2500 after tax. I was absolutely skint and on the bones of my arse for nearly 2yrs!!!

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

The mortgage payment means squat (other than the privilege of being on the housing ladder).

I currently pay around £800 per month on mine, but I could ring them tomorrow and add another 15+ years to the term and bring it right down. Or I could take 3-5 years off the term and put the monthly payment up. So the payment itself is meaningless.

@Zobra what did your parents do for work? That’s meant to be the test!

It's not huge relative to income and equity. First time buyers today are spending around 39% of their monthly income on their mortgage, and general advice is not to exceed 28% of monthly income. In your example the mortgage is about 20% of monthly income, which is a much better ratio than the national average, and there is significant equity in the property.

So yes on paper this is a very middle class income, albeit class is a nebulous concept defined by more than income.

I grew up in a house that was originally a council house (my parents bought it off the council when I was about 10). We never had a lot of spare money, DF had been married previously and paid spousal maintenance to his ex wife for the majority of her life. We had an old car and no foreign holidays and no new clothes, all second hand. DM worked part time most of her life as she looked after us and then was a carer for other family members.

however DM and DF were both teachers, both went to university. They had passed the 11+ and went to grammar schools. So although we had a lot less money than a lot of my friends, I definitely had a mainly middle class upbringing.

Class is more about education and type of job that it is about money IMO. I now have a firmly middle class (professional, regulated) job but know that I earn less than the builder who has been doing our recent extension. We both work for a living but he would probably say he’s working class and I would say I’m middle class even though he has more money and drives a much nicer car than me 😂

Social class isn't just about income. What is the occupation? Level of education? Social background?

I have multiple university degrees, highest being a doctorate, work in a professional occupation but still consider myself to be of working class background as my parents/ancestors had working class/trades person jobs and I was raised by a single mother in a council house. Although in fairness mum trained to be a tailor in a Saville Row fashion house in the 60s, so I guess there is variety, even within the working classes

We haven’t been married long and what happens if we divorce. Idk I see people saying they’re working class or middle class because of how they grew up and I genuinely don’t know how they know unless it’s like super obvious. Then you add in the hobby stuff