Financially it's smarter than being a post-doc or untenured lecturer.
It's a decent middle class job.
>Might
My friend got under $40K as a physics postdoc in TX, my partner got around $50K as a math tenure-track in midwest, and those are the lucky academics that could find these positions.
You can look up salaries at many public institutions. The trend is pretty sad.
Some people might get a lot of money by winning the lottery, doesn't mean it's a viable career choice.
Disclaimer: I jumped ship, and still might suffer a bit from the sour grapes syndrome - but not because the salaries in academia very any good.