I had a buddy, who as a young teen from wartime Netherlands, rode the train across the US to California with his dad in ‘48.
He was impressed by what he saw. His dad was surprised that “America was such a poor country.” He was confused by his dad’s assessment and questioned it. His dad explained that it appeared all Americans lived in frame houses, not stone or even composition brick. In Europe only the poorest lived in frame houses as they would not last for future generations of the family.
All eight of my great grand parents left Europe because they happened to be younger siblings of the MEN who inherited those stone houses. The women had to either marry a "stone house inheritor", or leave, as well. The process of passing on a family's wealth to future generations only worked when the family was VERY rich, or when few of the children survived childhood.
Americans aren’t into permanence. We’re into “gets the job done”. What’s the first thing Americans do when we buy a house: remodel. We add rooms to houses constantly. Frame houses fit our mentality.
Of course there’s also the problem they went by train. Poor people live by train tracks in America.