Morris County is almost entirely suburban or rural. Netcong/Stanhope is the only place with a crime rate worth worrying about but it's a pretty small town just outside of your range. It's also not really a dangerous area so I'm not sure why the high crime.

In terms of small apartments, there are a handful of garden apartment complexes between Morristown and Parsippany mostly.

Morris County is around 2/3rds white so finding anything good other than Italian restaurants can be challenging. Dover has a big Hispanic population and a bunch of great little restaurants, but other than that it's not a particularly diverse area.