I'm under the impression that most housings in the US got carpets on the floor - not just a regular sized carpet, but like the floor it self is a carpet. know what I mean? Like why would one want a floor, completely covered with a layer that is hard to remove, easily gets singed if you spill, and never >80% clean?
Laminate flooring is now becoming more popular for the reasons you state. You can snap together pieces of floor and if anything happens you can replace the piece/s damaged. Also I used carpet squares in my bathroom again for the reasons you state. If one gets stained I can replace it with another square.
Some people prefer carpet because of the feeling on the feet. Carpet is also cheap . Myself I have hardwood floors throughout most of the house. In the kitchen I have engineered floor made of rubber. It is easy to walk on and yet almost impossible to scratch. To me carpets are nothing but dirt traps and odour traps. My son has allergy problems and we took out the carpets his problems almost disappeared. Actually carpets are easy to take out. But I would never have any installed. Too hard to clean
This is called wall-to-wall carpeting and it's lost a lot of it's popularity. Many people are opting for either wood floors or tile floors with area rugs when they choose to have some sort of rug here or there. The same amount of dirt makes it's way into a house regardless of what type of surface is on the floor. It's all about how often people clean. If there are carpets on the floor they must vacuum often. If it's hard floor surfaces they must dust, sweep or mop. One is not necessarily cleaner than another. Most wall-to-wall carpet is treated with products that make it easy to clean up anything that might stain it.
