Depends on where you live. What’s common in NYC won’t be common in Little Rock Arkansas.

Often older cities were designed around neighbor streets surrounding schools and parks. Kids would and still do walk to school in these places.

New suburban houses often have developer designed or covenant communities (HOAs) that were built as a unit, sometimes gated, either a focus on selling lots not building schools. Often in these communities schools are built as part of an education complex meaning carpools and busses. These schools may be near a highway meaning 4th graders are not crossing 6 lanes of traffic.

Like everything in life. It depends.