In Ethiopia, rice is a staple food crop that can promote agriculture production. This study was conducted with the objective of assessing the nature and extent of genetic variability and association of traits in 81 upland rice genotypesin Northwestern Ethiopia during 2019 main cropping season using 9x9 simple lattice design with two replications. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant (P<0.01) difference among genotypes for all traits considered, indicatedexistence of genetic variability and can be exploited in future rice breeding program.A wide range of variation was observed in days to heading varied (56.5-92.5), biomass yield (12.82-22.91) t ha-1, grain yield (4.72-10.61) t ha-1, filled grain per panicle (70.7-195.3), thousand seed weight (21.92-35.5g), plant height (88.8-138.2cm) and harvest index (35.3-63.8%). Moderate to high genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation was exhibited bydays to heading, days to maturity, flag leaf length, leaf area, filled grain per panicle, and grain yield, indicating that simple selection can be practiced for further improvement of these traits. Moderate to high heritability coupled with genetic advance percent of mean was observed for leaf chlorophyll content, leaf area, thousand grain weight, grain yield and filled grain per panicle indicating that these traits can be improved through direct selection. The phenotypic and genotypic correlation were positive and significant for grain yield with plant height, filled grain and primary branch per panicle, panicle length, days to heading and maturity, biomass yield and harvest index. Path coefficient analysis revealed maximum positive direct effects of biomass yield,harvest index and length width ratio on grain yield, showing these traits can be used for indirect selection for simultaneous improvement of these traits. Cluster analysis showed genotypes were grouped to six clusters. The inter-cluster distance was maximum between cluster IV and V (D2 =261.62), indicating that genotypes from these clusters can be used as a parent in crossing to bring maximum heterosis in rice. The first five principal components with eigenvalues greater than one accounted for about 75.56 % of the total variation among genotypes, indicating that the traits considered were appropriate to detect variation among tested genotypes. Overall, the present study confirmed the presence of considerable variability among genotypes; and therefore, promising genotypes should be considered future rice improvement programs. Keywords: Cluster analysis, Correlation, Genetic Advance, Heritability, Path Analysis, Principal Component,