In My Hood business owner Penny Thoms is the average Hills resident

TAKE a look at In My Hood business owner Penny Thoms — she’s the average face of the Hills.

Penny Thoms, with husband David and son William inside her store In My Hood, is the average Hills resident

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TAKE a look at In My Hood business owner Penny Thoms — she’s the average face of the Hills.

The 38-year-old woman, getting ready to blow the candles out on her 39th birthday cake this week, is married to husband David and the two have a three-year-old son named William.

Mrs Thoms said she hoped to give William a younger sibling in the near future, like many other two-children families in the Hills.

“I’ve grown up in this area and been here all my life (and) live a couple of streets away from my childhood home,” Mrs Thoms said.

“It has changed so much; a lot of people are moving out of the city and into the are for a more grounded and family-friendly lifestyle.”

Mrs Thoms said the Hills were a great place to raise a family.

Her home in Castle Hill accommodates the family of three and, like the average Hills family, the Thoms have two cars and Mrs Thoms commutes to work by car.

Mrs Thoms doesn’t have to travel too far though; her children’s clothing and accessory store In My Hood operates out of Dural.

“I’ve had so much support launching my business as a Hills mum,” she said.

“A lot of locals are loving it and are really supportive of local businesses.”

Even before she entered the retail industry, Mrs Thoms worked locally.

“I was a quality manager at Woolworths headquarters in Norwest Business Park,” she said.

Of the 169,872 people recorded as living in the Hills in the 2011 Census, most residents work in a professional or managerial position, like Mrs Thoms.

Mrs Thoms not only lives and shops locally, she owns a business in the Hills.

The Hills is a relatively loved-up area with 61.1 per cent of residents married.

Most residents live in the leafy suburb Castle Hill (10 per cent of Hills locals) followed closely by Carlingford (9 per cent).

The least populated areas in the Hills area include Winston Hills (4 per cent), North Rocks (3 per cent) and Glenhaven (2 per cent).

The three largest ancestries in The Hills Shire Council area are Australian, English and Chinese.

A total of 24 per cent of locals came from countries where English was not their first language.

Just pipping the amount of health care industry workers (8885 locals or 10.8 per cent) was retail with 8938 employed workers or 10.9 per cent of the Hills population.

As the August 9 Census night fast approaches, Mrs Thoms had a prediction of the next average Hills resident.

“I’d say they’ll be about 40 or 41 years old, have a multicultural background, work locally and have a family or about to start a family,” she said.

WHO WE ARE

Local Rebecca Price works in retail, for store Azul Home, which is the most popular industry for Hills residents.

● Most populated suburb: Castle Hill with 27,458 residents or 10 per cent of the area’s population

● Average age: 38

● Women outnumber men with 85,886 of female residents to 83,986 men

● Typical jobs: Professional (27 per cent), manager (17 per cent) or in an administrative role (17 per cent)

● Most popular industry: Retail with 10.9 per cent of residents plying their trade in the industry

● A total of 61.1 per cent of residents are married

● Most common birthplace, aside from Australia, was the UK and China

Source: McCrindle Pty Ltd and ABS 2011 Census