There are many things a Physicist can do once they have their Ph.D. besides staying in academia. One may want to leave academia due to difficulty finding a job, lack of passion for teaching, change of pace, or any other reason. Regardless of your reason for searching for employment out of academia, there are plenty of opportunities open to those that have a Ph.D. in physics.
The first one that probably comes to mind is a job at a national laboratory like Fermilab or Sandia National Labs where you can focus on research. This is not limited to the United States as places like CERN have opportunities for both experimental and theoretical physicists.
The next job is working in industry doing applied research such as working with rockets, satellites, or avionics. These jobs typically have higher salaries as the companies have larger budgets compared to government labs or universities. If you don’t mind working in other areas, you can cast a wider net and work in industries that need things like mathematical modeling and analytical thinking. One can even work in an engineering environment because they are so similar.
Moving outside the realm of physics, we come to finance. Finance is one of the areas I have considered if I chose to leave physics. You have a lot of math, a lot of computer modeling, and a lot of research. A physicist can easily become what is known as a “quant” or a quantitative analysis where with bonuses one can make over half a million dollars a year. This Investopedia article goes into more detail.
There are many other possibilities with a physics Ph.D. Typically your smart, motivated, great at math and modeling, analytical, and good with logic. If you ever decide to leave physics (and many of these also apply to mathematicians), you will find that there are plenty of possibilities open to you because of your background.
