Are you two using a realtor? This is exactly the kind of info they'd know and be able to help you with.

A realtor really should be able to help you find something that meets your needs and your budget (as much as those things can align in the current market). Having a good one you can work with makes the whole home searching/buying experience so much better.

If your fiancee can drive, maybe drive around starting at the public transport hubs? Our apartment was near the train station I took to work, so when we started looking for a house, we went up and down the train line to various stations and saw what was available there. We also told our realtor what we were looking for, and she helped us narrow it down. In fact, she found our house for us because it was on a small side street we didn't notice. The house is a 5-minute walk to the train, near a main street with a bus line. There is also a small shopping center near the train station with a supermarket, a dry cleaner/laundry, post office, and some takeout places. We really lucked out.

I know people often post on my city's subreddit and ask about safety and transportation when they are moving. So maybe try that?

As for what cities to look at, I'm not sure.

Good luck!

Zillow and a good realtor.

Curious about this too.

Having a good realtor really helps. Someone who is responsive, listens to and understands your needs, and is very familiar with the market in the area you are looking (lives within 10 miles of where you are looking would be great.)

We bought our house a year ago. Definitely use a realtor. We told ours that we needed to be near bus routes and we make sure that the house is he looked at we're close to bus routes. Also, I would look up houses on Zillow and send them to him asking his opinions and then he would research them and let us know if we could set up a viewing.

Google maps. Every time I found a property I liked, I looked up the how long it would take to get to my doctors’ offices via bus. Finally one came for sale that ticked all the boxes and was a 5 min walk to 3 different bus routes, one of which takes me directly to most of my doctors. I close on the 4th!