Glad I was able to help motivate. :) I'm in a suburb now, but will be moving to the Fort Worth area, which I'm told has a tech scene. I don't know if anyone would call it a tech hub, but I guess it's all about perspective.
There are opportunities out there, and at the end of the day it's all just life experience. Focus on doing something you enjoy!
As others have said, you need to be pickier. You seem very confident in your ability here - why don't you carry that confidence through to negotiations?
I'm basically the same age (turning 19 in April) and doing contract work for $85 per hour right now (still in high school), but I have a job offer at a well-funded startup down here (Texas) that will pay a $105k salary as a senior software engineer once I graduate in the spring.
By allowing others to take advantage of you, you're supporting their ageism. Being great for cheap is detrimental to everyone. Either be bad and cheap or be expensive and awesome, proving in both cases that you get what you paid for regardless of age.
(Anonymous in case the company and/or my contracting clients who are paying more than $85 per hour are reading this.)
There are opportunities out there, and at the end of the day it's all just life experience. Focus on doing something you enjoy!