In one aspect of the teachings herein, a wireless device operating in a wireless communication network determines the measurement rate to use for making inter-frequency measurements on a given frequency layer, based on a performance requirement specified for that layer. For example, the wireless device uses a higher measurement rate for a frequency layer that has a performance requirement that is higher than the performance requirement specified for another one of the layers on which it is to perform inter-frequency measurements. Correspondingly, in an example scenario, a network node sends measurement configuration information to a targeted device, where that information indicates the layers on which the device is to perform inter-frequency measurements and indicates the performance requirements corresponding to respective ones of those layers. By way of example, the network node may be a base station, a clay, or another wireless device.