Coming to France as permanent resident - help needed.

[barouh]

Usually they won't rent you an appartment unless your income is at least 3 times the rent. Now the good news is that for a third of 2500 euros, you can get a pretty decent appartment and even a small house.
About crime in France, some suburbs are subject to unrest and crime but You will be very safe if you stay away from certain very specific suburbs which you may not even have to worry about in smaller cities.