If your household income is £1m a year, you're well-off, right? And if it's £17,000, you must be hard up? Not necessarily… We ask people living in Britain, from all walks of life, whether they feel rich or poor, with surprising results

The unpaid intern/student, 20, Durham

Lives with her parents during holidays, while she commutes to a charity internship; rents a room in a university houseshare in term-time. Household income: none, plus a student loan. Has £8,500 from an inheritance and in savings from a part-time waitressing job. Parents – a semi-retired teacher and nurse – earn £50,000 a year combined.

Do you feel rich or poor? "Poor compared with my friends, but not compared with poor people."

"Well-off students are fine, and people whose parents don't earn very much tend to get a lot of loans. I'm in the middle – I found it really difficult. When you factor in all the different payments my parents have to make, like mortgages, it doesn't leave them with very much, and I don't get any extra help. Sometimes, when I was younger, I'd have to loan my parents money. They contribute half of my rent and I pay the other half, then I pay my living costs as well.

"A lot of people at university are from private schools. When they complain about having no money, I sit there thinking, 'You kind of do have money.' I just wasn't able to keep up with their spending. One of my housemates will have Tesco Finest parma ham and mozzarella and olives and stuff in the fridge, and think it's completely normal, not realising that's extortionate.

"We had a cheese party, and one of the girls was talking about how she had spent £8 on a cheese and someone else had spent £3, and she found that really out of order. I didn't say anything at the time, but if you can afford to spend £8 on a cheese, that's fine for you!"

The PR, 37, Surrey

Married to a property consultant; two children.

Household income: £118,000 a year (£33,000 from PR and £85,000 from property consultancy). £22,000 in savings, £5,000 debts.

Do you feel rich or poor? "I certainly don't feel rich."

"In our bank account we have £22,000, which is nowhere near what you need for a deposit on a family house. Our council tax is £300 a month, our rent £1,600, then you've got childcare, which is £500, the car's a couple of hundred pounds; food shopping's £600.

"Considering my husband works 6.30am-10pm, and I'm also working three days a week, you'd expect to have your own home. We've got a car that's nearly 10 years old; we can't afford holidays.

"You get to the point where you think, well, we could buy a rundown house in a dodgy area, but why should we have to live on an ex-council estate? I know that sounds snobby – maybe it is – but we've been to university, we've both worked our backsides off, and we're not seeming to get the rewards for it. You get these people who have never done a day's work in their lives and they seem to have more disposable income, and a house they're not really paying for."

The call centre worker, 20, Sunderland

The call centre worker: 'I give my parents £150 a month We’re not poor – obviously not – but not well off.' Photograph: Gary Calton for the Guardian

Single; lives with his parents, who pay a mortgage. Household income: £17,000 a year, plus his father's income (£12,500) and parents' benefits, income support and disability benefits.

Do you feel rich or poor? "Middle of the road."

"I get paid £7 an hour. I think it's enough, to be honest. My father is employed part-time in admin and my mother is disabled, so my father works in tandem as her carer. I was in school until my GCSEs, went to college; after that, I moved into work. I had a gap of unemployment – for a year and a half I was struggling to find work.

"Since getting the job, my standard of life has improved greatly. I've had money for extra clothes; when I'm at work, I can buy food in the canteen, I don't have to bring a packed lunch. Recently I acquired a new TV for my room – my old one broke about six months ago. On average every month I give my parents £150. We're not poor – obviously not – but not well off."

The City lawyer, 32, London

Single. Household income: £100,000-£140,000 a year; undisclosed savings and a mortgaged flat.

Do you feel rich or poor? "Rich."

"I think I'm rewarded as someone expects that I'm available 24/7. You can't deny that there are people in the City who are earning amounts people can only dream of, but you're talking there about the CEOs of the big banks. You'd have to be incredibly comfortable not to feel the pinch at all, so I do. It's a very, very small group of people who can say that they're really comfortable. For me, that would be around £150k-plus, really. Life in the UK is just getting expensive for everyone, regardless of salary bracket."

The self-employed computer technician, 57, London

Single. Household income: £30,000 a year, plus £11,500 in savings; rented flat.

Do you feel rich or poor? "Closer to a poor person."

"I charge £45 an hour. If I earn £100 every day, I'm OK. I'm probably middle of the pack among my friends. At the supermarket, I'm the guy who buys organic meat and vegetables, because I perceive it as better for me.

"I tend to see people who don't bat an eyelid at somebody charging £45 an hour. One client said to her maid, 'Don't you look at me. You look down when I talk to you.' I just couldn't believe it. Is this what you have to become in order to be wealthy?

"But when I find myself going into an upper-middle-class home, when I'm in the bathroom, looking at the Molton Brown hand soap, I say to myself, 'What did I do wrong with my life?' My big worry is the future. I've got no pension. My health is OK, but supposing it took a dive?"

The supermarket checkout worker, 50, Derbyshire

The supermarket checkout worker: ‘It’s payday tomorrow, and I’m rich for a few hours.' Photograph: Richard Saker for the Guardian

Lives with her partner, a factory worker, and has grown-up children. Household income: £26,500 a year (£12,000 from the supermarket job, £14,500 from the factory). Debts of around £8,000.

Do you feel rich or poor? "Poor."

"It's payday tomorrow, and I'm rich for a few hours. Then that's it. I'm plain fed up, because I'm trying to find money, and I feel inadequate because of my age. I have the life experience. The sarcastic lad who calls himself a team leader, he's only 21. It's drudgery really. I'm bored, and I'm frustrated.

"At weekends, we go shopping with a calculator because we have a certain budget – £60. I haven't been abroad for three years. We can't claim benefits because we're both above the limit for anything. I've been involved with payday loans because my wages just do not stretch, and because of the gas, the electricity, the tax... It's just poverty. To have £1,200 a month instead of £1,000 would give me enough to pay my bills and clear my debts, then I could maybe learn how to drive. It's a bit of a pipe dream, but I'd like to work in conservation."

The personal assistant, 34, London

Single; paying mortgage on £260,000 one-bed flat. Household income: £40,000 a year, plus £14,000 savings.

Do you feel rich or poor? "Rich."

"If you're living in England, you're better off than 99% of the world anyway. I'm quite highly paid, but I work for people who think it's nothing to spend £800 on a one-way flight because they just feel like going at three o'clock rather than five.

"Somebody did a study and the conclusion was, if you live in the best house in a shit street, you feel much happier than if you live in an objectively much nicer house but it's the smallest one in a nice area. That's something I think about a lot. It may be part of why I feel happy with my life. I'm living in quite a rough part of London, where I see people who are really poor. When I go to Chelsea, I feel a complete scrote.

"Last week I was thinking about what I'd do if I won the EuroMillions. I thought I might have a baby. I can't afford to now and I wouldn't want my children to go to state school."

The managing director, 34, London

Married to a freelance photographer, two children. Household income: £100-150,000. She earns £60,000; he can earn more, but it's variable. Have a mortgage on a six-bedroom home and rent out a flat worth £500,000. No savings.

Do you feel rich or poor? "Rich on paper – but in reality we're poor."

"What we are is the forgotten middle. By no means do we have a flash lifestyle. We went to the cinema the other day and spent £50. It was easy. You have two cinema tickets on a Friday night, you have a cheap meal; by the time you've bought yourself a drink and paid for parking, it's £50.

"We couldn't even afford to buy our home, just my husband and me; we had to buy with my brother-in-law. You're going to laugh now – it's a six-bedroom house, but that's because we took on a doer-upper. The mortgage is crippling – £2,600 a month. Once you've paid the mortgage, your nanny, bought food and fed everybody, there's really nothing left.

"A travel card is £112 a month. The commuter belts have become very expensive, too, so I'm not sure you gain anything by moving outside London. You feel like you're being swallowed up by the cost of daily existence.

"This is absolutely universal. I went out for dinner with a friend recently and we spent a lot of the evening talking about how difficult it was to make ends meet these days. Her husband's a banker; she doesn't work."

The homeopath, 58, Lancashire

The homeopath: 'I believe you can afford anything. There’s a saying, isn’t there? Pay the deposit and the universe will supply the balance.' Photograph: Gary Calton for the Guardian

Lives with her partner, a part-time nurse; no dependants. Household income: £20,000 a year (£12,000 from homeopathy, £8,000 from nursing). Her partner exchanged his labour for a reduction on the cost of their home.

Do you feel rich or poor? "Rich because the quality of life is so rich."

"The lump sum that I got from selling the house I owned with my ex-husband enabled me to buy a house in the co-housing project. It's 41 eco houses and we share 11 cars. We cook and shop communally. Because we're sharing everything, we'll have three lawnmowers and six electric drills instead of 41. We've got shared laundry facilities. That means that we'll be keeping our costs right down.

"I've done this for the good of my soul, but it's for the good of my bank balance as well. Our joint outgoings, including food and bills, will probably be something like £1,000 a month.

"I strongly believe that you can afford anything. There's a saying, isn't there? Pay the deposit and the universe will supply the balance."

The secondary school teacher, 42, Cotswolds

Lives with her partner, a deputy headteacher, and one child. Household income: £85,500 a year (she earns £20,500 working part-time; her partner earns £65,000). They have a mortgaged home and savings of around £20,000.

Do you feel rich or poor? "Rich."

"We live in a three-bedroom cottage in a lovely area – we're very fortunate. We both run a car – in this area, you need it. It surprises me how much we earn and yet we don't have anything left at the end of the month. I don't think we have an extravagant life; we rarely go out. A third of my income goes on childcare.

"I don't feel we ever have to go without, but there isn't much slack. If we're feeling like this, I can't imagine how other people are feeling.

"We've got neighbours who are solicitors. I assume that they earn more than us; I'm also aware that they spend more than us – they often travel abroad. Money isn't really talked about. My dad's never even told me how much he earns.

"We have job security, compared with our peers in the private sector – let's say the solicitors. They have more money but they're more vulnerable to change. Having said that, with these cuts, you don't know what's going to happen. I don't wish for the things that I can't have. It's quite a nice place to be."

The plumber, 32, Kent

The plumber: 'On £60k a year we’d get by, but we wouldn’t be able to afford luxury items – nice car, holidays, that sort of stuff.' Photograph: Andy Hall for the Guardian

Married to a stay-at-home mother; two children. Household income: £89,000 a year, plus £15,000 savings.

Do you feel rich or poor? "I wouldn't class myself rich or poor."

"For a young family, who do enjoy nice things, it's not as if we've got loads in the bank. We've got a big mortgage: £1,100 a month. Some people would say, '£89,000 a year – it's a lot of money for a plumber' but you do a lot of hours for that: at least 70 a week. I'm probably spending £15,000 a year on getting to work.

"On £60k a year we'd get by, but we wouldn't be able to afford luxury items – nice car, holidays, that sort of stuff. Even a one-week holiday in Spain can cost £4,000.

"I'm just fortunate that I've landed a job that allows me to do overtime. I'm still the same person I was when I was earning £40,000 a year. I don't really compare myself with my friends in terms of income. We keep that generally to ourselves."

The businesswoman, 45, London

The businesswoman: 'During my first marriage I had a private plane, a house in Monaco, my Bentley. I will not expect anything less.' Photograph: Karen Robinson for the Guardian

Lives with her partner, a financial analyst, and her two children from a previous marriage. Household income: £1m a year. She owns a £3m business from which she takes £100,000 a year; he brings home £900,000 a year.

Do you feel rich or poor? "Rich, but it's not enough."

"I walked out of my first marriage and I had nothing. I had jewellery, so I pawned all that, and I taught yoga – that paid the school fees. The two things that for me were non-negotiable were that I was entitled to live the life I'd always led; and that the children were entitled to an education that was the best I could afford.

"During my first marriage, we made a lot as tax advisers. I had a private plane, a house in Monaco, a house in London. I had my Bentley; in fact, we had lots of cars. I can do it again; I will not expect anything less than that.

"I rent a very nice house; the children have piano lessons. But I feel that I just barely get by. I still worry. Can I afford this? I don't shop for myself at all. I don't know how much I'd have to have to feel comfortable to do that. I've put everything into the business.

"To me, money is a form of expression. I need nothing. Do I want? Hell, yes."

The part-time office manager, 35, Kent

The part-time office manager: 'I had to go on income support for a while, but they take everything away from you. I had days when I couldn’t afford a loaf of bread.' Photograph: Andy Hall for the Guardian

Single; one child. Household income: £22,000 a year, including tax credits, housing benefit and child maintenance.

Do you feel rich or poor? "Poor."

"I'm on £8.50 an hour. I should be on a hell of a lot more because I am very experienced, but if I get a pay rise or work any extra hours over my 16, it gets taken away pound for pound from my housing benefit. It's pathetic. I feel scared and worried and trapped.

"I have got a flatscreen telly, but that's because I am lucky that I have parents who are quite comfortable and they gave it to us for Christmas. So people who don't get it, who don't know what it's like living like this at the moment, might come round my house and think, 'You're not doing that bad.'

"But I rent privately and my rent is £825 a month. I have to pay council tax, all that kind of thing. One of my biggest problems is gas and electricity. They're absolutely ridiculous. And petrol: I never, ever fill up more than £20. Food shopping: I try not to spend more than £50 or £60 a week. These days, £60 doesn't get you far.

"I had to go on income support for a while, but it's not worth it; they take everything away from you. I had days when I couldn't afford a loaf of bread."

The stay-at-home mother/blogger, 33, London

Married to an entrepreneur; two children. Household income: £140,000 a year (£120,000 from the entrepreneur); £20,000 in savings and investments; owns two mortgaged and rented-out properties, as well as paying a £1,200 mortgage on their own home.

Do you feel rich or poor? "Rich."

"We have a really, really good income. I didn't have to go back to work; I have the luxury to be able to do what I want to do. We don't care about what car we drive; our house isn't the biggest house in the world – it's a four-bedroom semi-detached, very normal 1930s house in suburbia. We go on holiday in the UK, and I don't desire things. I only want to have enough money. We do give money to charity.

"We are not materialistic. Mums come to nursery wearing designer glasses and have massive cars, and I feel that they probably have less money than me. I suppose if you don't care about money, that's because you have enough, and I just feel very lucky in that.

"I once went out to dinner with friends and we were talking about how nobody ever talks about how much they earn, and we said, 'OK, let's lay out how much we all earn.' It was so interesting, because it really is such a wide range. I hope I pass it on to my children that you only need enough."

The asylum seeker, 32, Glasgow

Formerly an accountant. Single, one child; lives in a rent-paid flat. Household income: £4,992 a year in benefits.

Do you feel rich or poor? "Poor."

"I have been living in this country for five years now. I'm not allowed to work. The Home Office gives me £96 a week and pays for my flat. I don't pay bills. I don't have enough money. At the end of the week I will be left with £10 or nothing; it depends on what we buy.

"Initially I gained admission into college because I wanted to get a job, but the Home Office told me that I don't have any right to be in this country or for my baby to go to nursery. The school won't pay for my childcare. It's £30 a day, so that's £90 a week. I have to buy a £10 bus pass every week. That is how I'm left with nothing. Most of the time I don't even go out because I am depressed.

"This flat is very, very dirty and there is not enough heating. I can't afford to buy a vacuum cleaner. We eat well, but most of the time it's not what you want to eat. African foods are quite expensive, and I'm not used to what they are eating here."