Carolinas Medical Center- Should I take my first offer!?

I'm located in NY and applied a few months ago to a new grad residency program in NC (charlotte to be exact). You had to pick your top three area choices and for my first I put Adult Critical Care. During my critical care rotation I was in a CTICU, MICU, ED and OR. I loooooooved the CTICU but I know a lot of people would say don't start in it because it's high acuity and specific. Well, the nurse recruiter called me and said I see you were in the CTICU for clinical, did you like it? I said yes I absolutely loved it! She set me up with an interview with the hiring manager in their CVICU. I then got a peer interview after that. Yesterday (Fri 3/17) they called and offered me the position!!!! I said I'd take the weekend to think about it (So call them back Mon 3/20).

I have my capstone in the cath lab and I really do love love love love cardio..but I'm not sure if I should take my first offer.

However, I did interview and shadow in the Burn Trauma ICU at a hospital in [upstate] NY [where I go to school] and never got a call back (didn't love the unit so didn't really put my heart into the interview with the manager after the shadow, but I digress).

I just applied to three/four hospitals in the NYC area [where I live] this week, because their applications just opened.

I doubt I'll get an opportunity to start in a CVICU/CTICU in any of those hospitals though and that is what I want to do 100%.

The pay, however, in NYC area is 38-40/hr and in charlotte.... 21/hr !!!!!!

Is the cost of living in charlotte really that much cheaper?? Can you live off of 21/hr?

I do want a new grad residency program because I think a hospital that has this really cares about the growth and success of their RNs.

Anyone from Charlotte or a similar dilemma with any advice?