Tbh, the only reason I am crawling myself through a PhD is that I want to be a professor. Maybe in the USA this is almost unachievable, not to mention you will probably have to get an academic tenure too.

But where I live (northern Spain), mainly in engineering, getting a PhD almost always ensures the opportunity for an academic tenure and a professor position. We are still growing our universities' numbers and new professors are needed every year.

Would I be paid triple what I get now outside academia for my expertise? Yeah. But teaching is my passion so that balances out. Maybe I'll get out for a few years after I change my credentials from Mr. to Dr., just so I can afford a house, but I will come back to academia no doubt.