pgfplots: nodes near coords placement

Here I present an alternative, if you don't want to enlarge the ymax. For details, please have a look at the comments in the code.

% used PGFPlots v1.17
documentclass[border=5pt]{standalone}
% we need PGFPlotsTable ...
usepackage{pgfplotstable}
    % ... to store the data in an inline table
    % (alternatively one could store it in a file)
    pgfplotstableread{
        x       y
        1290282 {.}
        2208970 {,}
        81710   {-}
        51192   {:}
        40511   {?}
    }{MyData}
begin{document}
begin{tikzpicture}
    begin{axis}[
        title=sample count per class,
        xbar, xmin=0,
        width=8cm, height=6cm, enlarge y limits=0.15,
%        % this avoids the need for `symbolic y coords` ...
%        symbolic y coords={{,},{.},{-},{:},{?}},
        % ... and instead we can load them from the table
        yticklabels from table={MyData}{y},
        ytick=data,
        % ---------------------------------------------------------------------
        % adjusted from <https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/335742/95441>
        % ---------------------------------------------------------------------
        % #1: the THRESHOLD after which we switch to a special display.
        nodes near coords custom/.style={
            small value/.style={
                % everything is fine here, so I think there is no need
                % to change something
            },
            large value/.style={
                color=white,
                anchor=east,
            },
            every node near coord/.style={
              /pgf/number format/fixed,
              check for zero/.code={%
                pgfmathfloatifflags{pgfplotspointmeta}{0}{%
                    % If meta=0, make the node a coordinate (which doesn't have text)
                    pgfkeys{/tikz/coordinate}%
                }{%
                    begingroup
                    % this group is merely to switch to FPU locally. Might be
                    % unnecessary, but who knows.
                    pgfkeys{/pgf/fpu}%
                    pgfmathparse{pgfplotspointmeta<#1}%
                    globalletresult=pgfmathresult
                    endgroup
                    %
                    % simplifies debugging:
                    %showresult
                    %
                    pgfmathfloatcreate{1}{1.0}{0}%
                    letONE=pgfmathresult
                    ifxresultONE
                        % AH : our condition 'y < #1' is met.
                        pgfkeysalso{/pgfplots/small value}%
                    else
                        % ok, proceed as usual.
                        pgfkeysalso{/pgfplots/large value}%
                    fi
                }
              },
              check for zero,
            },
        },
        nodes near coords={pgfmathprintnumber{pgfplotspointmeta}},
        nodes near coords custom=5e5,
        % ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    ]
        % adjusted `coordinates` to `table`
        addplot table [x=x,y expr=coordindex] {MyData};
    end{axis}
end{tikzpicture}
end{document}