What Neighborhoods are Quiet? (apartment, townhouse, to buy)

[tb813]

My living situation's just changed, so that I now need to start looking for a new place to live. My current plan is to buy a home (probably single-family or townhouse) for under $100K, and when I did a search on realtor.com in that price range, I was surprised to see that there are a lot of options (though every one of them could be wrecks, for all I know).

Now, the thing I'm really nervous about is that I have serious issues with noise. I used to live in the USF area, and the people who lived in the apartment above mine would have really loud parties every weekend, and the roommate who shared a bedroom wall with me had his stereo on every day; most people wouldn't be very bothered by that, but without getting too much into all the issues going on in my brain, suffice it to say that it nearly drove me insane. So, now that I'm looking to buy a home (that I may well be living in for the rest of my life), the biggest priority for me besides price is that noise element. I need to find a place that's quiet, or I'm gonna be in very bad shape.

Does anybody have any advice on what neighborhoods are more on the calm side, or how to judge whether a neighborhood seems like it will be quieter, without just moving in and taking your chances?