in which city would you rather reside?

[traininthedistance]

I lived in Montgomery County PA (to be specific, Ardmore) for a year and change.  It was pretty nice- I could walk to a Trader Joe's for all my groceries and take the train into Philly.  Better than not only most suburbs, but most things that call themselves "cities" in this country.

Obviously not all of Montgomery is like that, and I preferred living in West Philly, but there are enough decent parts that I would be able to find something tolerable.  Which is very likely not the case for any of the other options on this list.  Eh, maybe there are a couple okay neighborhoods in Kansas City.

[traininthedistance]

Effectively urban part of Montgomery County, PA. There might be some such area in lower MontCo.

You'd prefer Norristown. I'd suggest Jenkintown but that has more of a suburban feel.

Conshohocken is probably a better option than Norristown- it's smaller, but it's also closer to Philly proper and I think there's supposed to be more going on vis-a-vis nightlife and such.  Norristown is not in great shape (though I do expect it to get better in the upcoming years).

I think if I were to live anywhere in Montco I'd go with Narberth.  It's the sort of suburb that even I can get behind.  Or... actually I'd just go back to where I was in Ardmore.  Having a 100 yard walk to the nearest grocery store (and having said store be Trader Joe's) really is the sort of convenience that's hard to pass up.

[traininthedistance]

I have an aunt and uncle in Bucks County, which, from what I can tell is very white bread suburbia. Is Montgomery County pretty similar or is one considered better than the other? 

Montco is much much much better.  At least the parts close-in to Philly are.  There's a greater preponderance of older towns with more character and better transit access- places like Cheltenham, Jenkintown, Ambler, Lower Merion/Narberth, Conshohocken, Norristown, etc.  Even the sprawlscape edge city that is King of Prussia (Upper Merion) is at least more of a destination than anything you'll find in Bucks, and hey it's close to Valley Forge.

Whereas Bucks has Levittown.  No, seriously, the actual Levittown.  Biiiig difference there.

Once you get past Lansdale into northwest Montgomery... the advantages dissipate.  Upper Bucks and upper Montgomery are both quite exurban and McMansiony, and if anything upper Bucks might actually be a tiny bit nicer.  But I'm not about to spend much time in either.

[traininthedistance]

Whereas Bucks has Levittown.  No, seriously, the actual Levittown.  Biiiig difference there.

The "actual" Levittown isn't on Long Island? That one was built first, I believe.

True, there are two actual Levittowns and it appears the Long Island one was built first.

The story behind the third Levittown- Willingboro, New Jersey- is really pretty horrible in so many ways.  I mean, the racism lurking behind all the Levittowns is pretty well known, but how it played out in Willingboro is especially galling:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willingboro_Township,_New_Jersey

[traininthedistance]

Whereas Bucks has Levittown.  No, seriously, the actual Levittown.  Biiiig difference there.

The "actual" Levittown isn't on Long Island? That one was built first, I believe.

True, there are two actual Levittowns and it appears the Long Island one was built first.

The story behind the third Levittown- Willingboro, New Jersey- is really pretty horrible in so many ways.  I mean, the racism lurking behind all the Levittowns is pretty well known, but how it played out in Willingboro is especially galling:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willingboro_Township,_New_Jersey

I currently live in the town next to Willingboro.  It's fine now.  There were all kinds of problems, yes, in the 1960s.  As soon as integration was forced by the James case, the town flourished.  It's a nice example of how successful and peaceful an American community can be once you get all of the racists out of there and sell the properties to good hard working people.  Today it's 75% African-American and doing swell.  A great place to point to when your average NJ racist likes to bring up places like Camden and Newark and claim that minorities, rather than economic decay, ruined them.  

I dunno, I think it's still a pretty galling historical example of "white flight"- especially naked because the racists leaving were so obviously leaving only because blacks were moving in, not because of the usual excuses of "better schools" or "we want spacious yards" or whatever flimsy cover they'd usually come up with.

And, anyway, I'd rather point to places like South Orange and Maplewood- which are actually integrated, and fairly wealthy to boot.

I thought the bit about Levitt refusing to donate any more schools once they went back to the original name of Willingboro was a nice touch of vindictive a**holery as well.