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I admittedly don't tour a lot of homes, but I'm pretty sure insulating between the attic space and the living space is close to universal in my area. Maybe if you live in Southern California or Hawaii and your home doesn't have A/C you could get away without it. Especially if you have a whole house fan that vents into the attic. But even then it is so cheap to blow in insulation that it seems foolish to not do it.

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Yep, it's pretty universal in the US. You insulate the attic floor (ceiling of your rooms). This also means that you need to keep your attic cold. You do that by letting air in from your soffit vents to either ridge or gable vent. Ridge vent is arguably better because it runs along the right of your roof allowing the air to travel between the trusses that holds your roof up.

why would you be able to "get away with it" specifically without A/C? Seems to me having A/C would make a house with an uninsulated attic at least somewhat less miserable.

It's more because you'll have your windows open all the time because you live in paradise.

Oh. But I mean, you'd still be much better off with insulation. FWIW I wouldn't want to live in SoCal (hot) or Hawaii (hot and humid) without A/C. We don't have A/C here in the bay area, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere warmer without it.

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