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I've heard it's very common in the Midwest, areas like Minneapolis. I've heard it's also common in Texas. Here in North Carolina, I can't say it's too common but it might be more a little more common in older homes.
Here in Arizona, I've only seen 1 house with a basement. I really would like one (I grew up in Michigan and Northern Virginia and both places had basements) as I really need the storage space. My wife (from Kansas) also grew up with basements until she came to Arizona.
Here in Michigan basements are very common, and more houses have them than don't. I wouldn't buy a house on a crawl space or slab foundation, because basements offer storage, protection in cases of inclement weather, and a greater desirability and resale value when buying and selling a home.
We have been looking to move about twenty miles south of where we live now to be closer to our jobs and elderly parents, and we have passed on a few houses that would have been perfect except for the fact that they didn't have a basement.
Basements in NC exist only if there is a sloped lot and thus is a "walk-out basement". Most people say it's because of the red-clay soil here; not sure if that is true or not.
A lot of people who move here from the Northeast say they miss having a basement. Most houses here have a "bonus room" though; large room over the garage; which apparently is practically unheard of in most other areas of the country?
I've heard it's very common in the Midwest, areas like Minneapolis. I've heard it's also common in Texas. Here in North Carolina, I can't say it's too common but it might be more a little more common in older homes.
Basements are not common in east Texas. In fact, they are less common in southern states than further north and that is because in many southern areas, the water table is very shallow. It then becomes impractical to try to build a basement that stays dry. Not saying you can't, but it's a challenge and can be very pricey.
Also, in many areas, particularly east Texas (but other areas as well) there is too much clay in the soil to make a basement practical. Clay expands and contracts significantly more than other types of soil and can wreak havoc on a basement - even to the point of making basements dangerous.
Building foundations need to be below the frost line so pipes don't burst. The frostline is several feet deep in the northern part of the US. In the southern US, it can be only inches below the surface. It's practical to go ahead and put in a basement when you've already had to dig so far below the surface to put in pipes, but it's impractical to do so in many homes in the south. Couple that with clay soil or shallow water levels and you can see how a basement makes less and less sense in many areas.
I've lived in the south most of my life and I've only had one home with a basement...and that basement was always damp and musty. UGH! I hated even going down there because of the dampness and the smell...and I was afraid to even store anything down there because of the possibility of mildew.
Like Tarheel said - we make up for it with bonus rooms over the garage or with a larger footprint in general. In general, cities and towns aren't as congested (not talking about metro areas) in the southern states and we therefore have a bit more room to spread out. We don't have to necessarily build up or down in other words.
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