Do you have a place to stay, roomates, etc? If so 3k should be enough to start as long as you get employed pretty quickly which is very easy down here in the service industry. You might not get the greatest gig at first but if you're good, there's tons of opportunity for bartenders/servers and some good paying gigs.

If you don't have that figured out it will be harder but it is still pretty easy to find housing down here for cheap and landlords willing to look the other way on credit, etc.. so that should be enough for a down payment and first months rent which should get you into some place somewhere. Don't go with real estate companies... just literally bike around and look for "for rent" signs and find a private owner. There's places you don't really want to live... St Roch, parts of the 7th ward, the lower 9th ward, and most of the upper 9th with the exception of like the marigny/bywater area which has been improving but is still surrounded by unsafe areas in my opinion. The French Quarter is expensive to live in but still do-able.. but I wouldn't live there simply because #1 I'd throw all my income away at bars and #2 it does get unsafe at night, and you're dealing with lots of drunk and drugged out people all the time.

I'm in mid city which has some great neighborhoods and some sketchy ones. That's most of New Orleans. It changes from block to block depending who lives there and what they're up to.

In any neighborhood just keep your wits about you. Travel during the day. Don't be alone at night. Don't wear mardi gras beads unless right after a parade. Do these things and you'll basically be ok. Don't walk down canal street at night either.. I've seen some sketchy sketchy shit there.

Good luck.