Career Paths with a Physics Degree

PHYS 4604 · Lecture 3

Andrew J. Steinmetz

2026-09-11

Upcoming

What When Points
Resume — PDF to Canvas Tonight, Sept. 11, 11:59 PM ET 100 (10%)
Fall 2026 All Majors Career Fair Sept. 14–15 External participation
Online professional presence Sept. 25 4%
Research proposal, GRFP style Oct. 9 15%

The goal of today’s lecture: map out what people actually do with a physics, astrophysics, or applied physics degree, using national data from AIP, APS, and BLS.

Part I: Physics bachelors entering the workforce

More than half of new physics bachelors who take a job start in the private sector.

Classes of 2022–23 and 2023–24 · (Mulvey and Pold 2026)

What do private-sector physics bachelors do?

Field of private-sector job Share
Engineering 38%
Computer or information systems 26%
All other fields 36%

Nearly two-thirds work in engineering or computing.

Only 3% of employed physics bachelors said they work in physics or astronomy.

Your competition is engineering and CS majors. Sell your problem-solving and modeling toolkit on your resume.

Classes of 2017 and 2018 · (Mulvey and Porter 2021)

Common job titles for new physics bachelors

Category Job titles reported by new physics bachelors
Engineering Systems, Electrical, Mechanical, Test, Process, Design, Application Engineer; Engineering Technician
Software Software Engineer/Developer, Data Engineer, Data Analyst, Data Scientist, ML Engineer, Consultant
Research Research Assistant, Research Technician, Patent Examiner, Accelerator Operator, Physicist, Scientist
Education High School Physics/Math Teacher, Middle School Science Teacher, Tutor
Business Data Analyst, Research Analyst, Project Manager, Investment Banker

As discussed last week, at the career fair (or CareerBuzz), search for these titles, not “physicist.”

Classes of 2021 and 2022 · (American Institute of Physics Statistical Research Center 2024)

Starting salaries for physics bachelors

  • Private-sector STEM: highest median and widest range
  • Civilian government (incl. national labs): next highest
  • Non-STEM jobs that regularly solve technical problems pay more than those that don’t
  • Teaching and university jobs: lower pay, narrower range

Full-time, U.S.-educated graduates, classes of 2021 and 2022. (American Institute of Physics Statistical Research Center 2023)

Astronomy & astrophysics bachelors

One year after the degree

  • 42% were enrolled in graduate school, mostly in astronomy, physics, or astrophysics.
  • Among those employed, the private sector was the largest employer (40%).
  • Colleges and universities employed about a quarter.

Median starting salary

Sector Median
Private-sector STEM $68,500
College or university $41,600

Same pattern as physics bachelors: grad school or industry, with industry paying the most.

Classes of 2021–22 through 2023–24 · (Pold and Mulvey 2026)

Physics vs. Astrophysics vs. Applied Physics

Same core training. Your electives, research, and projects give direction.

Degree Natural first-job directions How to signal it
Physics Research & technical, software/data, grad school Research, computational projects
Applied Physics Engineering (systems, test, optics), national labs Lab & instrumentation skills
Astrophysics Data science, software, aerospace, grad school Large-dataset projects, Python

These are tendencies, not rules. Employers hire on skills and experience, so your resume matters more than the name on your diploma.

Part II: “Physicist” as a job title

Physicists & astronomers
Median pay (May 2025) $166,880
Jobs (2025) 25,600
Projected growth, 2025–35 7%
Openings per year ~1,500
Typical entry education Doctoral degree

Largest employers of physicists

  • Scientific R&D services: 38%
  • Federal government: 13%
  • Colleges and universities: 10%

(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2026d)

Where physics skills get hired

Occupation Median pay Entry education Growth Openings/yr1
Software developers $135,980 Bachelor’s 10% ~106,100
Aerospace engineers $134,960 Bachelor’s 8% ~3,800
Data scientists $120,230 Bachelor’s 35% ~24,800
High school teachers $72,040 Bachelor’s 0% ~63,500
Physicists & astronomers $166,880 Doctoral 7% ~1,500

BLS medians cover all experience levels*; they are not starting salaries.

Median pay as of May 2025; projected growth 2025–35. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2026e, 2026a, 2026b, 2026c, 2026d)

Part III: The graduate school path

One year after the degree, new physics PhDs split roughly evenly between postdocs and potentially permanent positions.

Classes of 2020–21 and 2021–22; U.S.-educated PhDs who remained in the U.S. (n = 1,680) · (Mulvey and Pold 2024)

Where do new physics PhDs work?

Sector Postdoc Potentially permanent
Academic 72% 15%
Private 1% 73%
Government 24% 7%
Other 3% 5%

63% of potentially permanent positions are in fields outside physics:

  • Data science: 21%
  • Engineering: 14%
  • Computer software: 11%
  • Other fields: 17%

Most permanent PhD jobs are in industry, not faculty positions.

Classes of 2020–21 and 2021–22 · (Mulvey and Pold 2024)

Is the PhD “worth it”?

PhDs in potentially permanent positions

% who felt… Acad. Private Gov’t
PhD is appropriate background 90 86 82
Professionally challenging 73 83 89
Underemployed 28 17 14
Satisfied overall 73 89 96

Postdocs

  • 97% say their skills will be valuable later
  • 91% are satisfied
  • 56% consider academia their primary goal

Academic prospects?

There’s about 2000/yr new PhDs and about 600/yr faculty positions.

Classes of 2020–21 and 2021–22 · (Mulvey and Pold 2024)

Part IV: How industry careers progress

A physics bachelor usually starts in an entry-level or junior position and advances with experience. At the senior level, the path often splits in two:

Technical track

  • Deepen your technical expertise
  • Lead the technical work on projects
  • Stay close to the science and engineering

Managerial track

  • Spend most of your time on project, resource, and personnel management
  • High-level management positions are among the highest-paid jobs for physicists in the private sector

(American Physical Society, n.d.)

Job boards

Physics & Academia

Industry & Government

References

American Institute of Physics Statistical Research Center. 2023. Physics Trends: Starting Salaries for Physics Bachelors. American Institute of Physics Statistical Research Center. https://www.aip.org/statistics/starting-salaries-for-physics-bachelors.
American Institute of Physics Statistical Research Center. 2024. Physics Trends: Common Job Titles for New Physics Bachelors. American Institute of Physics Statistical Research Center. https://www.aip.org/statistics/physics-trends-common-job-titles-for-new-physics-bachelors.
American Physical Society. n.d. “Career Profile: Bachelor of Science Jobs in the Private Sector.” Accessed September 11, 2026. https://www.aps.org/careers/advice/bachelor-science-private-sector.
Mulvey, Patrick J., and Anne Marie Porter. 2021. “The Employment Landscape for New Physics Degree Recipients.” Radiations, April. https://students.aip.org/radiations/the-employment-landscape-for-new-physics-degree-recipients.
Mulvey, Patrick, and Jack Pold. 2024. Physics PhDs Initial Employment: Academic Years 2020–21 and 2021–22. American Institute of Physics Statistical Research Center. https://doi.org/10.1063/sr.71bcab7cfc.
Mulvey, Patrick, and Jack Pold. 2026. Initial Employment Sectors of New Physics Bachelors, Academic Years 2022–23 and 2023–24. American Institute of Physics Statistical Research Center. https://www.aip.org/statistics/initial-employment-sectors-of-new-physics-bachelors-academic-years-2022-23-and-2023-24.
Pold, Jack, and Patrick J. Mulvey. 2026. New Astronomy Bachelors: What Comes Next. American Institute of Physics Statistical Research Center. https://doi.org/10.1063/sr.d5de3f91f0.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026a. “Occupational Outlook Handbook: Aerospace Engineers.” https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/aerospace-engineers.htm.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026b. “Occupational Outlook Handbook: Data Scientists.” https://www.bls.gov/ooh/math/data-scientists.htm.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026c. “Occupational Outlook Handbook: High School Teachers.” https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/high-school-teachers.htm.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026d. “Occupational Outlook Handbook: Physicists and Astronomers.” https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/physicists-and-astronomers.htm.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026e. “Occupational Outlook Handbook: Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers.” https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm.