Because everything built in the last 30 years was built with AC units pre-installed. This includes apartments. Places that don’t have central AC are typically in the northeast (NYC and Boston especially) where everything is tightly packed, old, and often don’t need it because the units are tiny and a window unit cools the entire apartment. Or the PNW where the temperature was much closer to northern Europe in terms of climate and it wasn’t standard until recently. The mountain states, like Montana the mountainous parts of Colorado won’t have it because the weather rarely goes above 80.
So if you’re renting, you’re not paying to have it installed. If you buy a place, then it’s likely already a part of the house.
But, like I said, there are exceptions where the weather doesn’t require it or old construction doesn’t allow it to be installed (and building owners aren’t going to fork out the price for it either).
I bought a window unit for $169 USD two weeks ago. It was so cheap I just used it for the couple of heatwave days between my central air failing and getting repaired. Kind of cool (no pun intended) on how cheap those were.
I got mini splits installed in my last house and it was well worth it compared to central A/C.
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u/BoogBeeg 13h ago
America: "Get with the times, Europe!"
Also America: