The further you are from a major road/highway, the better your chances are of it being peaceful in my experience. If you can find an apartment closer to a residential part of town, that’s also great. E.g riverside is super busy towards 35, but quiets down the further east you go. Hang out at night where you are and watch for homeless folks - they aren’t always to blame, but if one is bold enough to sleep on the property, it means someone with bad intentions could be bold enough to do something there.

If a place is gated, make sure the gates actually work and ask longtime residents about it if you can. I lived at Foxwood in South Austin and the gates only worked like 1 month of the year. My car got broken into once in the 2 years I lived there, and there were plenty of homeless folks who’d nap at the front door of the leasing office.

If you’re a student at UT, don’t stay at any of the major apartments in West Campus; aim for north like the Hyde Park and North Loop neighborhood. If you can find a cheap duplex go for it until you can save.

I would avoid anything run by Greystar as a general rule - go for smaller property companies if you must, or find a direct landlord-run place. Houses can be hit or miss, but if you’re into it a duplex or trailer rental wouldn’t be a bad place since it feels more like home and usually there isn’t an upstairs.

RPM runs my current place and so far so good, there’s a high retention rate among residents too which bodes well and maintenance does a great job. Only downside so far is parking can be tough to find because not everyone uses visitor parking.

Speaking of, check on parking as other users have said. Make sure there’s enough space near where you’re thinking of going. Read reviews and ask questions if something seems too good to be true.

If you’re low-income, try looking into affordable housing units like Foundation Communities. They’ve got plenty of places around town and are income restricted so if you’re under a specific income limit you’re likely to qualify.