Everybody charges whatever they can get away with. Basically sites like OF and JFF have liberated organized sex workers. They have steady streams of income and can pick and choose if they even want to do "in person" sex work anymore.
Gay men, generally speaking, have a lot of discretionary income. The boys know it and charge accordingly. If a guy is hot for you, you have to strike in the initial moment. I'd have totally become a sex worker in my youth if I had the resources available to me that exist now.
Trust and believe also, the more a queen can/will pay, the more obnoxious and demanding they probably are. So per usual in the gay "community" the pretty boys are all fucking each other and loving it and the rich gays get the cream of the crop.
Work a day fellas are basically just out of the online gay hiring game now, except for the random street meat you can still find on the ground occasionally. BUT, not every guy can demand $300 and up and make any money. And there are only so many rich guys tricking at any given time. Many are in steady sugar relationships. I'm definitely always looking for the humble, discreet, more rural provider who likes the game and depends more on volume than anything else.
Fuck LA and NYC, both are just out of control and ridiculous, lol. LIfe is much better in the hinterlands. I'd rather put up with a little cold weather a couple months a year and an affordable cost of living year round than deal with the level of narcissism those environments encourage and allow any day. Also, thank goodness I'm old and my sex drive died so I'm rarely even looking any more.