Average S&P return is 10%, but average US inflation is 7.8%, which gives you a yearly return in today’s dollars of $22,400. If you did your plan and bought a house for $250k, (well below the US median house price, but I’ll take your word for it that it’s plausible) you’d expect to indefinitely get $16,800 a year. If you add on the average US rent ($1,700) which you wouldn’t be paying with an outright-owned house, you get an equivalent yearly income of $37,700. In 2023 this would’ve put you in between the 4th and 5th deciles, so slightly below median.

So, if you think the middle class is squeezed in the USA, then you should also think that someone with a million dollars would be squeezed if they quit their job and retired intending to live of it.