Terms like ghetto, trashy, safe, classy, etc... are just emotional terms based on each individual's skewed experiences. None of us know exactly what those terms mean to you personally, so using them does nothing to help you make an informed, fact based decision based on your own expectations. Also, generalizing an entire city isn't exactly useful either. Sometimes, a better neighborhood in a ghetto city may very well be safer than a trashy neighborhood in a higher class city.
I'm looking to move soon myself and have been using the following sources to help me find a "safe" neighborhood, with "good" schools that is within my price range.
http://www.crimereports.com/: Type in an address or a city and pull up the map. The map shows the exact addresses of all police reports in a given date range, color coded based on how severe the crime was (i.e. dark red for homicide, light blue for theft from vehicle, red triangle for registered sex offender - which you can click to see a name and photo). You can change the date range and the crimes that the map shows. I normally back up the date range a little bit (say the last 3 months of the prior year) because not all police agencies turn in their reports on a timely basis. Once you choose your date range and crime list, you can drag and pan the map and go around the entire valley, making your own comparison of neighborhoods you're interested in.
http://www.greatschools.org/:
Type in a city or school district and you can see test scores for nearly any public school in the valley. If you've got a 3 year old, there's a good chance that they'll end up going to at least kindergarten in the school zone you choose now. Also, even if your kids aren't in school or aren't in public school, it is still revealing to see how the kids that live around you are performing. Interesting to look at different ages too. For example, one of the areas I'm looking at, the elementary and JR High have the very best scores in the district while the HS has the very lowest scores in the district. So does that mean that the kids get dumber the longer they live in that neighborhood? Is there a different demographic moving in than what there has been in the past? Something else? Obviously we can each make our own speculations about what factors effect school test scores (is it the school, the kids, the parents, the teacher, the neighborhood...), but there's nothing wrong with at least knowing what is going on around you.
By the way, in my searches, with a $1,400 rent budget, you can find a rental home in pretty much any neighborhood in the valley, if you're patient enough to wait for the right deal to come along. The question becomes, do you want to stay put permanently/ semi-permanently? If so, when you're done renting, can you afford to purchase a home in the same neighborhood? That adds a whole new set of limitations.
My $0.02
edit- yes, I do have a slight case of ACDC (anal compulsive disorder condition)
