In my area, they have special garden bins where you put plant material in. It gets recycled, turned into mulch, etc. At my house, for the most part, we just had the leaves blown off the pavement and the lawns (or the leaves would just get mowed) into the dirt areas where they can decompose and become new dirt. If there was a real excess, then the rest of the leaves would get put in the garden bin.
Personally, I think removing leaves from dirt areas is stupid and I see it happen all the time, especially by the edges of houses. These edges are always covered in mud because when it rains, the mud splashes up on the side of the house because there are never any leaves there, but if you just left them there, that wouldn’t happen and they would eventually turn into dirt themselves. Moreover, leaves provide nutrients and enrich the soil.
In places that are prone to forest fires, you are compelled to rake them up along with pine needles and other debris because it increases the risk of burning the house down.
(Also: I live in a place where it doesn’t snow and so the lawns stay green all year long).