What relationship does megapixel rating have with image quality?

I'm about to purchase my first DSLR, and I'm noticing that nikon has a 24 megapixel (D3200) for 550 dollars at my best buy. Their better and more expensive model, however, only has a 16 megapixel rating (D5100.) Cannon also has options… With a slightly higher megapixel rating and a slightly better camera as you go down the line. How worried should I be about megapixel rating? I won't really ever be printing over 11x14's.
With a higher Megapixel rating, Will that provide the ability to print a larger image without seeing the fuzzy dots that make up the digital image? Does image quality in a more expensive camera sometimes trump a large megapixel number in a cheaper camera?

Megapixels have nothing to do with image quality, but they do provide more resolution should you want to produce an enlargement.

However, resolution has gone so high that you can just about print a billboard sized photo before you will see any pixelation.

What does happen - especially if the manufacturer stuffs too many megapixels into the sensor is that the low-light capability tends to suffer. The more pixels in a sensor, the smaller each one must be, and that results in capturing less light - hence lower low-light performance.

Larger (DSLR) cameras always trump smaller cameras - regardless of the megapixel number as larger sensors have more surface area, can produce more contrast and image quality, as well as superior low light capability.

Sensor physical surface area produces better photos, not the number of pixels on the sensor.

A DSLR's sensor is about 15 times larger than a compact camera's sensor, and almost 100 times larger than a smartphone sensor.

Megapixels are not a measure of image quality.

the marketing teams of camera companies push the numbers higher and higher only to sell cameras.

Don't fall for the large print myth. People here give advice as if everyone were going to print up big billboard photos.

12-16MP is enough for anybody not making money selling large gallery prints.

When you add pixels, you must pay a price, there's no free lunch. The 3200, 5200 and 7100 take a hit in low light at high ISO vs a lower pixel count sensor. So you have to weigh the feature set of each camera, along with the image sensor.

Lastly, don't fall for anyone posting links to DxOmark.com. Those up front numbers don't tell the truth, you have to dig into the data to get the real performance of the image sensor. The D3200 sensor, when you see the real numbers, is no better than the old D3000.

The real champs when it comes to APS-C image sensors, when you see the real data are the Fuji X100 and the Pentax K5 II.

Shoot in RAW format, keep your ISO low, and with 16 MP, you can go really big if you need to.