I can't speak for everyone in the US, but the general impression I have on the topic is that cement blocks are for cheap government housing projects and bad-neighborhood schools, while poured concrete with or without brick fascia is for more upscale large buildings, and steel-framed brick or stonework is the provenance of the rich. Middle class homes are almost always wood frame with plywood or beaver-board exterior walls clad in vinyl siding, and sheetrock (occasionally hardboard) over the same wood frame for internal walls, with little difference between load bearing and non- save for whether there's continuous support down to the poured foundation footings or slab. Floors are usually what I think is called "medium density fiberboard," basically sawdust glued together like the beaverboard is garden mulch chips glued and pressed together, with carpet/lino/tile/hardwood/whatever floor surface laid on top of that, and ceilings either more gypsum sheets or whatever fibrous cardboard-y stuff they make drop ceiling panels out of.
Living in the northeast, it's notable that every concrete building I've ever been in has tended to be cold, especially in the winter. I'm sure properly insulating them and having a heating system up to the task is possible, but the economic niche they occupy tends to go for the minimum in that regard. (And the reverse during high temperature season, but for some reason A/C plants tend to be run more aggressively in most of the places I've been. Maybe they figure it's easier to put on a sweater than take off some skin? I know I say that in connection with liking winter more than summer, but the great indoors is supposed to be shirtsleeves conditions...) Having had a house fire in a wood framed, aluminum skinned home that remains rather traumatic, I can see the appeal of silicate-based construction even so, and despite the economic stigma of cement blocks. Living in areas where radon gas seepage is a legitimate concern that and the ability of stray smoke and carbon monoxide from the wood heat balance it out in the family home I'm presently living in, old enough to have actual lath-and-plaster walls and ceilings over the timber frame, and electrical wiring running along the walls in those little conduit strips due to having been added well after the ol' pile was constructed. Only having one or two outlets per room can be a hassle, though.
Living in the northeast, it's notable that every concrete building I've ever been in has tended to be cold, especially in the winter. I'm sure properly insulating them and having a heating system up to the task is possible, but the economic niche they occupy tends to go for the minimum in that regard. (And the reverse during high temperature season, but for some reason A/C plants tend to be run more aggressively in most of the places I've been. Maybe they figure it's easier to put on a sweater than take off some skin? I know I say that in connection with liking winter more than summer, but the great indoors is supposed to be shirtsleeves conditions...) Having had a house fire in a wood framed, aluminum skinned home that remains rather traumatic, I can see the appeal of silicate-based construction even so, and despite the economic stigma of cement blocks. Living in areas where radon gas seepage is a legitimate concern that and the ability of stray smoke and carbon monoxide from the wood heat balance it out in the family home I'm presently living in, old enough to have actual lath-and-plaster walls and ceilings over the timber frame, and electrical wiring running along the walls in those little conduit strips due to having been added well after the ol' pile was constructed. Only having one or two outlets per room can be a hassle, though.
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‎noli esse culus
‎noli esse culus