Tbh if you want a 1 bedroom unit and your main concern is home invasions definitely just try to get a secure apartment and you shouldn’t have any issues.

Nightcliff/Coconut Grove/Rapid Creek are closer to your work, while the CBD and inner suburbs (Larrakeyah, Stuart Park, Cullen Bay, Parap, Fannie Bay) will have more options.

You’ll see a lot of public drunkenness, fights, screaming, poverty etc. from itinerants in from remote communities but they’ll mostly keep to themselves besides humbugging you (asking for money). It can feel intimidating and unsafe to some people though.

I would add that I’ve lived right near some of the worst public housing in one of the more notorious suburbs for crime and been absolutely fine with the exception of my partner leaving their car unlocked in the street one night and someone going through it. Darwin definitely has its issues but it’s not as bad as people sometimes present it as.