I always wondered why residential front doors almost always open inward. It is almost impossible to kick a door in if it swings outward because of the jamb. And you can put a full length astragal (fancy name for a metal plate) on it to prevent crowbars. In commercial almost every exterior door swings outward, although that's mostly for safety/fire exit reasons, but still, they are far more secure. And before anyone talks about pulling the hinges off, a couple dollar add to the hinges make them impossible to remove (NRP = Non Removable Pin, it is a little set screw that holds the pin in place) without a power saw, and if they have that you're fucked a million other ways already.
If you have a security screen door then I guess your normal door has to open inward, but outside of "urban" areas very few people have those anymore. Nor do most people have those little chains they can use to open the door a few inches (which can easily be kicked in anyway). I'm guessing it is just some holdover from when those things were more common?