> Is that really something that is actively legislated against in the US?

Yes. Zoning in the US tends to be restrictive and exclusionary, as in a given area is zoned for one type of use to the exclusion of any other. This means an area zoned residential does not allow any commercial use, not a local grocery, not a restaurant, not a barber shop. Furthermore, residential zones tend to be further restricted in order to preclude any sort of MDU or even townhouse, it's common for suburbia to have miles and miles of "single family" (exclusively detached residential) zoning.

And this is not small cities in the boondocks, Seattle, Charlotte, Arlingon, or San Jose, are above 80% single-family zoning.

I bought a house in a suburb a few years back. There is a little convenience store in the neighborhood a few blocks walk. Also a little Italian restaurant. It's pretty neat but this is the first time I've had this in 25+ years. Generally residential means residential. Nice part is it's pretty hidden inside the neighborhood so almost all clientele is local. I probably wouldn't like it if it was convenient to a major road and traffic was pulled in.

Yes. There's a recent Not Just Bikes video[1] about third places (think UK pubs) and how they are largely missing the US and Canada. For more about the reason for that (Euclidean zoning), which is touched on in that video, this City Beautiful video is good [2]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvdQ381K5xg&t=8s

[2] U.S. and European Zoning, Compared https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNe9C866I2s

Extensively, yes. Having housing & non-housing in the same area is rare in much of the US.

Other comments have described the situation well, but I want to note that “suburbs” like this are pretty common in the US, but not like the only place to live. In particular they are a place where lots of people move when they are getting established in their careers, and starting to have kids — lots of people grew up in them so they get an outsized weight I think.

We also have college towns and small cities! I tend to pick places where there’s something walkable, and have never lived in a place where I couldn’t walk to a shop or restaurant (although ”walkable” is subjective I guess, I’ve been in places where I had to walk 45 minutes through parking lots to get groceries).

I dunno, suburbs are a funny thing… it is easily knowable what they are and what you are signing up for when you move to them, but lots of people end up there as a sort of default choice (or maybe not really a choice, they can be the most affordable place to get a house that fits multiple kids comfortably and isn’t in the absolute middle of nowhere).

The HOA (Homeowners' Association) might state, for example, no corner shops. So, you want a quart of milk or a loaf of bread ? Get in the car!