Yes, it is a lot of money. It may not get you a vintage Ferrari collection, but in every city of this country you can buy a fine place for 500K and still have 500K left over without a mortgage to pay.
>It’s the median price of a single-family house in my town. Even now.<
That's fine. But that doesn't mean that $1 million is not a lot of money. It just means you live in an expensive neighborhood.