Methods and systems are provided for dynamic determination of EV-DO control-channel bit rate based on forward-link timeslot utilization. Service is provided to access terminals on a carrier in a wireless coverage area. The carrier comprises timeslots that can be active or idle. Active timeslots comprise a data channel; idle timeslots do not. The data channel is arranged to transmit user-traffic information, and also to transmit control-channel information at a bit rate that can be set to a first or second value, where the second value is greater than the first value. A number of active timeslots on the carrier in the coverage area over a time period is determined. It is further determined whether that number is less than a threshold number. If so, the bit rate is set to the first value; if not, the bit rate is set to the second value.