Øvre Rendal is a former municipality in the old Hedmark county, Norway. The 1,829-square-kilometre (706 sq mi) municipality existed from 1880 until its dissolution in 1965. The area is now part of Rendalen Municipality in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre was the village of Bergset where Øvre Rendal Church is located.

Prior to its dissolution in 1965, the 1,829-square-kilometre (706 sq mi) municipality was the 35th largest by area out of the 525 municipalities in Norway. Øvre Rendal Municipality was the 434th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 1,665. The municipality's population density was 0.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (2.3/sq mi) and its population had decreased by 9.2% over the previous 10-year period.

On 1 January 1838, the large Rendal Municipality was established. This municipality spanned 4,201 square kilometres (1,622 sq mi) from the Østerdalen valley to the border with Sweden. During the 1870s, discussions began on dividing the large municipality. On 1 January 1880, Rendal Municipality was split in two to create the new Øvre Rendal Municipality (population: 1,868) in the north and Ytre Rendal Municipality (population: 1,661) in the south. The new Øvre Rendal Municipality had an area of 2,521 square kilometres (973 sq mi).

On 1 January 1911, 692 square kilometres (267 sq mi) of eastern Øvre Rendal Municipality (population: 381) was removed from the municipality and merged with 330 square kilometres (130 sq mi) of eastern Ytre Rendal Municipality (population: 311), 750 square kilometres (290 sq mi) of southeastern Tolga Municipality (population: 201), and 168 square kilometres (65 sq mi) of northern Trysil Municipality (population: 291) to create the new Engerdal Municipality, located to the east of the remaining Øvre Rendal Municipality.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, Øvre Rendal Municipality (population: 1,629) was merged with Ytre Rendal Municipality (population: 1,913) to create the new Rendalen Municipality.

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Rendalen valley (Old Norse: Reindalr). In 1880, the large Rendal Municipality was divided to create two new municipalities. Both municipalities were named after the old municipality and to distinguish between the two, an additional word was added to the name. The word øvre was added to this name and the word ytre was added to the other municipality. The word øvre means "upper" (while ytre means "outer"). The first element of Rendal is rein which means "reindeer". The last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The river Rena runs through the valley and it is not known if the valley was named after the river or if the river was named after the valley. A nearby mountain Renafjellet also has a similar name. Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Øvre Rendalen. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Øvre Rendal, removing the definite form ending -en.

The Church of Norway had one parish (sokn) within Øvre Rendal Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Rendal prestegjeld and the Nord-Østerdal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

Øvre Rendal Municipality is located in the northern Østerdalen valley. Alvdal Municipality, Tynset Municipality, and Tolga Municipality were located to the north. Engerdal Municipality was located to the east, Ytre Rendal Municipality was located to the south, and Stor-Elvdal Municipality was located to the west. The highest point in the municipality was the 1,754.8-metre (5,757 ft) tall mountain Sølen, located on the border of Øvre Rendal Municipality and Ytre Rendal Municipality.