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She really should find a job out of the city as well. If the highly paid workers in the city want to buy coffee or sandwiches or whatever

...she's a public health adviser for the United States Department of Health and Human Services. I'm pretty sure she's not selling sandwiches.

The same principle applies.

How so? What do highly paid workers in the city have to do with her job?

She presumably provides a service to those in the area where she works. Whether she makes sandwiches or gives life advice, the price paid by the consumers of her service should be somewhat correlated with the cost of living in the area.

TL;DR on my own comment: she's in her early 60s with all that entails for jobs and job hunting. She's making the best of being basically trapped.

or just bring your own coffee and lunch?