Utah has made it explicitly legal to leave children home alone.
In response to a well publicized case where the police initiated a neglect investigation of parents who allowed their children to walk to a nearby park alone, Maryland issued a policy directive specifying that such investigations cannot be initiated solely because children are seen in public alone, without any indication of specific impending harm[1]
I don't think this is true at all. I actually immigrated to the US from Iran and even decades ago it wasn't acceptable there either. There was always a parent, grandparent, family member, or neighbor to look after the children. That includes rural areas.
> That is, if you've actually raised them well.
I don't think it's that simple. I have two kids and the younger one is completely independent requiring less supervision while the older one is dependent on us for everything and needs constant supervision. Their personalities are so drastically different that defining "raising them well" can mean basically anything with hundreds of dynamic factors.
I watch a documentary series on YouTube called "Most Dangerous Ways to School" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tg0ipCdiQQ) where kids travel to school alone for via dangerous terrain, but in most episodes the parents acknowledge how many kids die attempting to do such things and how dangerous it is. It's far from safe.
It would only be hell because its illegal, not because it's actually a problem.
There is no good reason for why you couldn't leave a healthy school-aged child home alone for the duration of a workday. That is, if you've actually raised them well.
Billions of people around the world have been raised in an environment where this sort of thing was normal - only a few western countries police this.