How Do You Pick An Area To Live In When You Are Moving Long Distance?

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I am going to be moving in the future to a different state and i dont know the areas very well. i know i need an area like close to a hospital etc but other than that i dont know what to look for. i have no idea how to tell if its a good neighborhood and my current home we were told was in a safer neighborhood than it turned out to be. i dont have kids so schools are not an issue just crime and i want to be close to everything (im spoiled being in a big city lol) i can look at demographics but you cant really tell by those. i cant go down there and spend a ton of time to find an area. if i am lucky i will get to go down there 1-2 times for a day or two before moving to see. i dont know anyone in that state either so no one can check things for me. i will kind of need to have a few houses in mind when i go down so i wont be looking and wasting time when i am down there but ugh i am so lost! is there a way of getting info of the cities layout? like stores, hospitals etc? an easy way to get crime info? what areas are prone to flooding? there are a lot of things i have to consider and have so it makes things so complicated and ive tried looking around and obviously not looking in the right places... HELP! so how do you guys that move long distance to areas unknown to you decide where and what area to move in? do you go by info or go for a visit and get a feel for it? renting is not an option either or else i would just rent something and take my time to know the area =(