Trumpy,
I think frost lines are another large part of it. For many areas in the northern US, you need to sink footings several feet underground to get beneath the frost line, with reinforced CMU walls from there, with several feet of space to allow a crawlspace for maintenance and installation. Once you've done that, you might as well just make it a basement!
Areas that are flat, hot and/or have high water tables do not often have basements.
All the above unfortunately apply to me. I miss having a basement
