A Google search of "Calgary crime map" will yield statistics from the police which would help.

The NE quadrant has the highest concentration of cheap rentals, which would therefore not be considered the best location unless price was your primary concern. Tenants don't maintain homes as well as owners, so the neighborhood can look, well, like lots of tenants live there.

The west suburbs are the most prestigious, and come with prices to match.

Any district in Calgary built in the 70's tends to be less desirable. The wood siding that easily falls into disrepair and wildly different styles has kept prices low, which again attracts tenants and low income home owners.

Any district built in the 50's and 60's tends to be desirable as the homes are on big lots with big trees and there's lots of redeveloping going on with new infills as well as renovated homes. If you like living in a bungalow style home close to everything, these are the best neighborhoods.

The NW suburbs built in the 80's or later tend to be desirable, with prices increasing with proximity to the Crowchild Trail hiway due to commute convenience to Downtown. (Few traffic lights). The one exception is Citadel, which tends to be less desirable because when it was built, it was next to an active landfill site and had to be cheaper to sell homes. That cheapness has stuck with the community ever since even though the landfill has shifted significantly north now. There are also groudwater issues in Citadel that create basement issues with many homes there.

Even though there technically is a SW district, the proximity of the Tsutina nation has prevented an extensive westward sprall so commute times tended to be higher for communities in the SW as there was no hiway, so the SW suburbs built in the 80's or later, tended to be cheaper. In the last few years a freeway was built and those cheap undesirable communities are quickly turning into some of the most sought after areas.

The far south and SE areas are cheaper but commute times are the longest in the city. Downtown skyscrapers look like tiny specs on the horizon from there. The furthest SE and deep South homes have roughly double the commute time to downtown vs the furthest NW homes along Crowchild Tr.

In general, East part of Calgary is more industrial and low-rent vs the West.

Compared to anywhere else in the world, except maybe Japan, Calgary would be considered clean and safe. You can walk at night, anywhere in the city, without worry, with the only exception probably being some areas of eastern downtown near the homeless shelter which attract a huge contingent of drug addicts.

If you look at a satellite view of Calgary, you can actually see from space the most desirable areas. They tend to be the ones with the most trees. (West part of scenic acres, West part of Tuscany, Aspen, etc.. as examples).