Provided herein are apparatus and methods for high linearity voltage variable attenuators (VVAs). In certain configurations, a high linearity VVA includes multiple shunt arms or circuits that operate in parallel with one another between a signal node and a first DC voltage, such as ground. Thus, the shunt arms are in shunt with respect to a signal path of the VVA. The multiple shunt arms include a first shunt arm of one or more n-type field effect transistor (NFETs) and a second shunt arm of one or more p-type field effect transistor (PFETs). The gates of the NFETs are controlled using a control voltage, and the gates of the PFETs are controlled using a complementary control voltage that changes inversely with respect to the control voltage.