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This is my experience:
In general, when a city got TV stations will determine the earliest sets you will find. Prewar sets are found about 90% in the New York/NJ/Philadelphia area, with a small number found around Chicago and Los Angeles. I've only heard of one set being found elsewhere.
1945-48 sets are found almost exclusively in the same areas. A few smaller sets, like the Pilot TV-37, seem to be everywhere, probably because they were easy to take with you if you moved to a different city.
1949-50 sets are also found in the midwest, in cities where stations came on the air in 1948-49.
1950 and newer sets can be found just about anywhere, except in areas of the west that didn't get stations until the early or mid 50s. Early color sets can be found anywhere, since by the mid 50s virtually every city had a TV station, and most cities had at least one station broadcasting in color.
More sets are found in wealthy areas, for two reasons. First, wealthy neighborhoods had higher early TV penetration, and second, wealthier households had larger homes, with basements and attics where sets could be stored.
More sets are found in metropolitan areas, because they had better TV reception and were wealthier than rural areas.
A couple of other factors that might be in play: I would suspect fewer early set finds in parts of the country where homes don't have basements or large attics (Florida, for instance). Areas where people spend a lot of time outdoors, like California, may yield fewer sets. I know that cable TV penetration in California in the 50s lagged far behind the rest of the country, as did the average number of TV hours viewed. Maybe TV set sales were also lower than the rest of the country.
Mechanical TV sets are found everywhere, probably because broadcasting was done on AM and SW frequencies and reception was possible anywhere.
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