Usually, to get a $250k job you need to have $250k job trappings, aka you're unlikely to get or keep that job while living, dressing or eating etc as a $50k job person, ending up in the situation you described.
Minimalism seems to be a way to escape the rat-race even through salary, but it seems like a strategy for after you have proven yourself indispensable in a high paying job, not something most people can or will achieve, or are able to then make the necessary life changes.
TLDR if you are a worker become part of a union no matter what salary you're on.