In the US it varies a lot. Some places, like NYC or DC you might rent forever and that’s perfectly common. Other places which are not as urban focused, think medium cities that are big but not super dense, you could choose to live down town and rent or buy apartments or you could live in the suburbs or rural country. Some people live in small cities far from any major city and options to rent apartments are rare, you are more likely to rent a small house, live in a mobile home, or you own a house of varying quality.

Here is an example: Let’s say you live in Verdigris Oklahoma, outside of Tulsa. Here is a mobile home for $76k with 112 m^2. Here is a home for $195k with 938 m^2 land and 130 m^2 living space. Median income for Tulsa is $41k with married households having a median income of $99k. Tulsa is a 20 minute drive from Verdigris.

If you then get a job offer in Oklahoma City making more money, Oklahoma City has a median income of $67k with family median incomes being $83k (let’s assume your family is beating the median since you’re moving for this job). Here are a few houses that are in or near Oklahoma City 1 2 3 3 4

Here’s another example. Maybe you have a job on the west side of Richmond Virginia. Richmond has a median income of $64k but you live in Chesterfield Virginia maybe in this town home and have a 15 min commute to work. You get a new job on the north side of Richmond and you’re getting married soon. You decide to sell your place, upgrade, and move closer to your new work so you buy this place.

Sure, totally understand why some people wouldn’t. Me personally, if I spent that kind of money for an appliance I expect to take it with me even if I move.

I think it depends, but most people don’t buy a house planning to live in it forever anymore. More likely you upgrade from renting to owning a small apartment or condo, then you move into a starter home, maybe you get married and sell your home because your partner has a home, and then you decide to have kids and the starter home isn’t really big enough anymore, then you get a new job in another city, etc.

Honestly, I don’t think not having a fridge is that big of a deal. If someone actually wants the house they will haggle you down for the cost of a fridge and I would be totally fine with that. Hey, I could have bought a $900 fridge and put it in here, I will give you $900 out of the sell. If you don’t want a $900 fridge you can take that money and put it to the fridge you do want.

The same reason why the British still use miles and stone. For some other archaic units still commonly used see horsepower, nautical mile, BTUs, acres, shots (volume), and knots (speed).

Most people use the units they grew up with or use every day as their primary colloquial units. If you grew up using inch, foot, or yard, and enough people around you can also use the unit, it doesn’t change anything in your day to day to continue to use them. It also doesn’t make sense to change what you use and already know if that is also what the people around you use and already know.

That said, Americans do know metric units and many use them every day, they just don’t typically use them when talking to other Americans. If the basis of your argument is US produced media then it just goes to show you don’t really know anything about everyday US culture. Also, why would US media, made for a US audience, with US characters use a unit that most Americans don’t colloquially use?

Complaining about US media containing Imperial Units is like if I watch a Spanish movie and complain about people speaking Spanish instead of English.

Shh, the non-American’s believe the US doesn’t understand metric at all and if you tell them otherwise they won’t be able to circle jerk.