the non-american in me - thinks that “commuting” may be a reason for this.
For every european, reading that mericans commute often 150 km x day - is just mindblowing (both on the “time-sink” aspect and the carbon footprint of it) …
When I lived in New Jersey I took the train and subway into NYC. The commute was two hours each way.
That was pretty typical for that region.
Now I commute 40 minutes to work and 60 minutes back, but it’s mostly a remote job. Still, I have to drop off and pick up my kid and take him to therapy, etc so there are some weekdays I do three hours of driving.