Housing questions, moving to Champaign next month!

Hi everyone, my bf and I are going to move to Champaign/Urbana next month, and I need advice on housing. I have found some decent apartments, and we are looking to start a bit smaller. We have two animals, a German Shepard (shes a big ol baby, and a mixed breed so shes smaller) and a small cat.

We are looking for a studio or one bedroom/studio house/apartment that is pet friendly, and reasonably priced. We are moving from a very expensive situation in AZ, so we are hoping to find something a bit more reasonable that is still in the city area.

Also anyone in that area that would wanna be friends and get to know us would be amazing! I'm F (25) and he's M (23). We are partially leaving because of the political feelings in the city we are in, and from the research I have done, Champaign/Urbana is more representative of what we look for!

I'm mainly looking on Zillow and Hotpads, so if there are any other trustworthy resources/sites, I would be eternally grateful if you could share that with me! <3 We are very excited for this move, and desperately need it, and need the fresh start. Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope you are all having a wonderful week!

Also- sorry if my post is all over the place, I am not the best with my words sometimes. <3