Meet Rashmi Samalad, a 33-year-old mum-of-two who lives in Craigieburn and is the typical Hume resident.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics census completed in August last year, revealed that the average Hume resident is a 33-year-old woman, with two children.
She is likely to live in a three-bedroom house in Hume’s most populous suburb – Craigieburn – where the population has reached 50,347 people, up from 32,757 in the 2011 census.
While Ms Samalad and her family are currently renting, they are building a three-bedroom house in Craigieburn.
Ms Samalad said she felt “very much” like the average Hume resident, noting that most local women her age had two children.
Like 42 per cent of Hume’s population, Ms Samalad was born overseas. In fact, she is one of 8625 Hume residents born in India.
Overall, Hume’s population has increased 17 per cent since 2011, with 197,376 people calling the municipality home in August last year.
Half of all residents speak a language other than English at home, with Arabic and Turkish the most common.
Weekly household incomes are up $166 from 2011, with the median income now $1379, while monthly mortgage repayments have fallen $56 to $1706.
In neighbouring Whittlesea, the population has reached 197,491 people.
The average resident is also a mother-of-two living in a three-bedroom house, but is likely to be 34 years old.
The census revealed Epping to be the municipality’s most populous suburb, with 32,395 people. It also revealed that 41 per cent of residents were born overseas.
Almost half of Whittlesea residents speak a language other than English at home, with Macedonian the most popular. Like Hume, weekly household incomes have increased since 2011, rising $171 to $1444, while monthly mortgage repayments have fallen $61 to $1798.
