Well if you're actually interested in the topic, there are communities around the country that are very welcoming, and you could go hang out with them to see what it's like from their perspectives.
If I remember right the website has a list of ways to get involved with the community outside of the event. Burns like this are 100% built on people bringing their talents and efforts to the gathering, they are not like a show put on that people show up to, so communities are always looking for more people to join and get involved and contribute.
But to address your point, not everybody goes for an entire week, a lot of people show up for just a day or two as they can, and also for a lot of participants this is the one big thing that they save up for the whole year, saving all of their vacation days just to have this homecoming sort of experience.
Like I probably said above, I'm not a Burning Man sort of person myself, but I know a ton of people who are, so I am very well aware of friends saying they can't do this or that because they are saving it all up for the big burn.
And just to give one illustration, last week my friends were all sharing a meme about TikTok influencers not being able to fulfill the contracts to broadcast from the event because of the flooding, just highlighting how SO many people at the event utterly reject the rich and the influencers as being anathema to the spirit of Burning Man.
