A method and base station for distributing wireless device traffic load in a wireless communication system having a plurality of base stations are provided. A method includes determining a wireless device traffic load on a serving base station of the plurality of base stations. The method also includes determining a priority for each of a plurality of target base stations of the plurality of base stations, the priority being based at least in part on a number of wireless devices being served by the serving base station that receive a signal from a corresponding target base station that exceeds a threshold. The method further includes determining whether to change the load of the serving base station and sending a load change request to a target base station having a highest priority based on a comparison of the load on the serving base station to a load change threshold.