Is there any safe areas of Harlem?

My girlfriend and I are moving to NYC hopefully with in the next year or so. We are moving from Phoenix, AZ but we are originally from CA and I understand it will be different. On our recent trip to NYC we mainly stayed in the lower part of Manhattan and like that area but we knew we would have to up our budget by a lot to live in that area. We are some what used to the nicer things in life I know that we wont be able to find the luxury apartment that we have now in AZ considering our budget for NYC but I just don't want to to live in a bad area or crappy buildings. Harlem seems to be the best area for our budget which is $1400. Also I want my girlfriend to feel safe. Is there any areas that I should keep away from and areas that I should live in that can accommodate that?