Keep renting, especially given that you only plan to live in it for a few years. At that price point you are looking at houses that will almost certainly need major repairs, and if your budget is only 125k then you most certainly do not have the ability to afford a roof replacement or deal with a pipe leak that causes water damage.

You can call it whatever you want, but the reality is clear. Parts of Baltimore should be avoided unless you have a desire to experience the wonderful experience that is getting robbed or assaulted. Leaders who refuse to acknowledge these basic "street smarts" facts that everyone living here learns are why we end up getting idiots like Trump and the rest of the far right who just spew garbage, but at the same time get votes.

I would suggest using 2020 Census data for household income, in Baltimore at least that is a pretty good proxy for incidence of violent crime. There are certain places that should be avoided completely at night and census data paints a pretty clear picture.