Why don't most houses in Louisiana have gutters?

They fill up with leaves and overflow

Gutters are kind of a pain in the arse if you don't need them.

I have a section on the back of my house with gutters and I curse them in the fall.

Because the different roof elevations make them irrelevant. I regrettably added gutters. What a waste of money and constant source of work. In hindsight, I would have just added one section on my front porch for guests using the front door.

The purpose of gutters is to divert water away from the base of the house. You need them when you have a basement to avoid water seepage through the foundation walls of your basement, especially if you have a finished basement.
As there are typically no basement in the New Orleans area they don't serve a purpose. My house in Baton Rouge had a partial basement which was always flooded.
And houses in areas that get a lot of snow typically won't have them as the weight of the snow and ice will rip them off the house

Most houses around me have gutters.

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Why don't most houses in Louisiana have gutters?

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You only need gutters if you have a basement or crawl space that rain water might accidentally drain into and flood.

Louisiana's swampy soil prevents the building of basements and crawl spaces, so no gutters are needed to wick away the excess water.

Building right now and I am going with gutters. I think most houses in my new hood have them.

They make screens for the top of gutters.

In my neighborhood there are a LOT of trees, including many pine trees. Even with screens it would be a timely chore to keep them clean.

good question. I paid extra to have gutters put on my house. I hate that trench that rain water makes around the houses that don't have gutters.