A Sopre wanting to transfer to WARM TX climate. Where to go?

I am transferring at the end of the semester and really have no idea where to. Before I moved to Arkansas to attend college I lived in a po-dunk Texas rice field/refinery town not experiencing big city or the woes of crime. I've come to the realization lately after living in the suburbs my entire life, that metropolitan cities are going to have some crime along with its culture, traffic, diverse people, and possibly tourism and/or business. Wondering if anybody has any heads up on any cities that have established some equilibrium between the crime and all the things that make a great city a city.