A method for contact list prioritization according to predicted reachability includes loading a contact list of contacts and retrieving a reachability value for each corresponding contact in the contact list that has been computed for each corresponding contact according to usage data of each corresponding contact for an associated mobile telephone. Thereafter, contacts in the contact list that are determined to be most reachable according to a corresponding reachability value are displayed first. In one aspect, the usage data for the associated mobile telephone is based upon accelerometer data of the associated mobile telephone. In another aspect, the usage data is based upon recency or frequency of use of the mobile telephone to place telephone calls. In yet another aspect, the usage data is based upon recency or frequency of use of a messaging application executing in the associated mobile telephone. Finally, in even yet another aspect, the usage data is based upon recency or frequency of posting content to a social network through the associated mobile telephone.