I think that the first thing to do is survey the local Congregations in the area. Ultimately, if you want to be intimately involved in the Life of your Local Church, the amount of time you'll spend on "Denominational" matters will be a fraction of the time your spend on "Congregational" matters.
Think about it -- if you had to choose...
The criterion by which you should evaluate the Local Congregations in your area is simple: how Faithful are they to the Biblical Doctrines of Christianity, and to eachother as Christian Brethren?
For myself, for example, I am (obviously) partial to Orthodox Presbyterian churches -- one of the neat things about being Orthodox Presbyterian is that, even if I had to relocate, there's no such thing as a theologically-liberal Orthodox Presbyterian Congregation. They just don't exist. That's quite a comfort!!
HOWEVER, the OPC is not a huge denomination; if no OPC (or PCA, which is similar) congregations were available, I'd be happy to survey the Christian Reformed, Reformed Baptist, Reformed Episcopalian, and Conservative Lutheran churches in the area before I would join a liberal "mainstream" Presbyterian USA church out of some sort of "denominational loyalty". For myself, I would not survey the local Roman Catholic churches, on account of differences between the Biblical Doctrines of Soteriology and the Roman Catholic doctrines thereof; but within the Protestant community, I think that membershipping myself to the most Biblically-faithful and brotherly Local Congregation I could find would tend to supercede Denominational pride.
Make any sense?