Abstract: A rotary position sensor (200) includes a magnet assembly (200?) having first and second poles (26, 28), a nonuniform magnetic field (B?) in a working air gap (22?) between the poles, and an axis of rotation (A, A?, A?). A magnetosensitive device (24?) is located within the working air gap (22?) at a first selected distance (X, Y, Z) from the axis of rotation (A, A?, A?). For a given range of motion, the magnetosensitive device (24?) is subjected to a progressively increasing magnetic flux density (R, R?). The component of the output signal due to this increasing flux density is additive to the component due simply to rotation of the magnetic field (B?) about the magnetosensitive device (24?), effectively reducing the total output signal's deviation from linearity. Alternatively, a magnet assembly (300?) includes a pair of pole pieces (310, 312) and a nonuniform magnetic field (B??) in a working air gap (22??) between the pole pieces (310, 312).