Top U.S. cities for phone loss

The findings from a phone loss study revealed that lost phones, if unrecovered, could cost U.S. consumers more than $30 billion this year.

The analysis, from more than 15 million users, found that demographics and behavior are the largest factors influencing phone loss. Over the course of 2011, Lookout located 9 million lost smartphones, which equals one phone every 3.5 seconds.

In total, they found that U.S. consumers lose their phone about once a year. If unrecovered, that could cost every smartphone owner more than $250 a year each.

People in some U.S. cities have a higher chance of losing their phone: Philadelphia residents lose their phone two times more than New York City dwellers, while San Franciscans and New Yorkers lose their phones three times more than Chicagoans.

Here are the top ten cities in the U.S. for phone loss during 2011, inconveniencing residents’ daily lives and resulting in financial losses:

1. Philadelphia
2. Seattle
3. Oakland
4. Long Beach
5. Newark
6. Detroit
7. Cleveland
8. Baltimore
9. New York
10. Boston.

Interestingly, many of the cities with highest rates of lost and stolen phones also were in the top ranks for the FBI’s most recent crime statistics. Cleveland, Detroit, Oakland and Newark, were amongst the 10 cities with the highest crime rates in the U.S.

Specific locations invited loss more than others, with coffee shops and bars topping the list. In addition, people lose their phone most often at night; 67 percent of phones are located between the hours of 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time.