In order to guarantee your safety, you'll need to do some research on the area. Your research needs to go beyond magazine articles. There is no set standard for ranking cities, so each list will be different from the next. If you're looking for a city's crime rate, you will find better information by visiting a crime statistic search engine. This site contains crime statistics for thousands of U.S. and Canadian cities.
Consumers enter the state and city their moving from and state and city they're moving to.
HomeFair then displays a chart and some general information about the area. You may also want to visit BestPlaces.net for comparative city profiles, school statistics and other helpful features. These web sites provide consumers with general ideas about the new area. Once you've gotten some statistics, go to the neighborhood, and get a feel for what's there. You'll need to visit the complex at random times on random days in order to know the area a little better.