Methods and apparatus for determining a load estimate in a receiver in an orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) communication system include detecting at least one OFDM symbol of at least one predetermined synchronization signal; determining a signal strength measure based on the detected at least one synchronization symbol; detecting at least one OFDM symbol nearby to the OFDM symbol of the at least one predetermined synchronization signal; determining a total signal power measure based on the detected at least one nearby OFDM symbol; and determining the load estimate based on the signal strength measure and the total signal power measure.