The Top 10 US Cities Where Uber Riders Forget The Most Stuff

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Uber recorded 3.6 billion trips on its platform in the first quarter of 2026 alone — and riders have left behind a trail of dropped iPhones, wallets, keys, laptops, and one 75-gallon fish tank. The company's recently published 10th Annual Uber Lost & Found Index details the trends and singular oddities among this swath of forgotten artifacts. The result is what Uber calls "an unexpected time capsule of the past decade," with the things people leave behind shifting with the times: face masks in 2021, Ozempic in 2025, Labubu plushies in 2026.

Uber has done some serious data mining, surfacing factoids like these: You're most likely to forget your phone in the back of an Uber on a Saturday, but more likely to leave your charger behind on a Wednesday; red has remained the most common color of forgotten item over the past decade; and dental devices like veneers, gold grills, and dentures are more commonly left behind than you might think. Sundays are the worst days for lost items, which Uber dryly suggests might be because Sunday Funday "brunch mimosas don't exactly boost situational awareness."

Read on to see which cities ranked as the most forgetful. And should you be the next unlucky person to leave something in the back of that white Prius driven by Kevin, fear not: Uber has rolled out a feature in select markets that lets you request a trip with your original driver to have your lost item returned, with nationwide availability planned by the end of 2026. It's something the individuals who somehow forgot a wedding cake, a gold Rolex, or a toy poodle — that's a small animal, not a stuffed animal — probably wish they could have used. Uber didn't break its unusual-item lists down by city, so we can only guess exactly which listed items were left behind where.

This one makes perfect sense, as harried travelers at the end of a New York City vacation grab an Uber to go catch a flight at Newark Liberty International, ranked the most stressful airport in the world. Who wouldn't experience some mental slippage on such a journey and subsequently fail to collect their "virginity rocks" lanyard, Pokémon Go device, or taxidermied rabbit upon exiting the vehicle? Newark isn't just an airport hub, however, so if you have time before your flight, do check out Newark's diverse, artisanal food scene. Just don't leave your leftovers in the Uber afterward.

While Uber doesn't speculate as to why Atlanta passengers forget so many things, we're going to guess that the city with the world's busiest airport is also a place where tired, distracted tourists contribute to the statistics by leaving behind all manner of items. We'll also venture a guess that the poor football fan who left behind a ticket to see the Atlanta Falcons might well have been a local. If you're a tourist, just remember never to call the city "Hotlanta" when talking to your Uber driver, or the thing you lose will be your dignity.

Are you one of the 10 people who left their portable breathalyzer in the back of an Uber somewhere in America in 2026?  Losing an item like that in a Beantown Uber can be a big bummer. You can reduce your odds, however, by skipping the city's notorious traffic and opting to take America's most reliable subway instead. "Tourists should take the T & only Uber after midnight, when the T stops," opined one Redditor answering a tourist's query about the viability of Uber for getting around on a vacation. The joy of public transport? You definitely won't need to bring a breathalyzer.

Uber reports that Texas' metropolitan areas — Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston — used to crowd the lost list "year after year." This year, Dallas is the only Texas city making the top 10. But should you lose something in Dallas, take heart from driver Michele Champoux, who in 2019 paused a trip to pull another car's driver and two children from a burning vehicle. Her passenger helped, too. So, yes, you may lose your wallet riding in a Dallas Uber, but at least the city has a precedent for drivers going well beyond the call of duty.

Did you forget something in an Uber on your last trip to the "capital of free museums," Washington, D.C.?  You aren't alone: The nation's capital ranks sixth on Uber's list. Getting your stuff back may not cost a ton, either. In 2025, NetCredit determined that Washington had the most affordable Uber rides relative to local wages among the major U.S. cities studied, so if you do need to book another trip to retrieve your device, it may sting a little less.

You can now officially call LA "Lost Angeles," as it makes Uber's list of cities with the most forgetful passengers. There's also a potentially expensive rideshare charge looming at Los Angeles International Airport, already known for being a nightmare to navigate. The LA Board of Airport Commissioners approved higher access fees for rideshare trips in 2026, including a future $12 fee for pickup or drop-off in the Central Terminal Area once LAX's Skylink people mover officially opens. As of this writing, however, Skylink is not yet carrying passengers, so the higher terminal fee has not yet taken effect. For now, if you're reeling from LAX itself, just make sure your Star Wars lightsaber, canned sardines, and press-on nails make it out of the car with you.

The city where it all started is also one of the most forgetful. The service then known as UberCab launched in San Francisco in 2010, just three years after the first iPhone went on sale. Fast-forward to 2026, and the city ranks fourth on Uber's list of most forgetful cities. One way to avoid this is to ride less and walk more, perhaps by taking the city's incredibly scenic urban hike and hopping aboard one of its famous cable cars to tackle those famously steep hills.

In 2016, Uber driver Jose Figueroa picked up a Ukrainian immigrant at O'Hare International Airport and drove him to a home in the suburbs. Afterward, Figueroa found a wallet containing $3,000 in cash. He turned around and drove back to the house, reuniting the rider with the money, which Figueroa said was all the passenger had after selling his business in Ukraine. For his trouble, Figueroa was invited to dinner, received a $100 reward, and made the news as a good Samaritan. So even if you do lose your wallet in a Chicago Uber, you can at least hope your driver in the 'World's Most Beautiful City" takes inspiration from Figueroa.

So you left your carrot cake, Dyson Airwrap, and yoga mat in the back seat of an Uber? All mentions here, however bizarre-sounding, are real items riders have left behind, by the way. Blame it on vacation brain. Uber suggests that the reason vacation hotspots like Miami — as well as the No. 1 city, for that matter — "consistently over-index" on lost items is that "when travelers are off-duty, so is their memory." So while you're boning up on the unwritten rules you should know before visiting Miami, maybe throw in some short-term memory exercises as well.

New York ranks as Uber's most forgetful city in the U.S. in 2026. Considering it's also the most visited state from abroad, "tourist brain" may well be a contributing factor. Or maybe people in the city that never sleeps are simply extra tired. Uber didn't say where a driver found a single red-soled Christian Louboutin stiletto, the sort of shoes favored by stars like Zendaya and Beyoncé, but we're guessing it was the Big Apple, if only because it feels like the opening scene of a meet-cute rom-com with serious "Cinderella" or "The Devil Wears Prada" vibes. We hope the unshod damsel and her Uber driver are living happily ever after by now.