Methods, systems, and media are provided for automatically determining a preferred queue size for an individual queue based on message traffic. Embodiments include referencing a plurality of queue data sets for one queue. One or more high-activity queue data sets are identified as having a large number of messages compared to other queue data sets in the plurality. Thereafter, a target size for a queue is determined based on an average message size generated using one or more of the high-activity queue data sets. The current size of the queue is adjusted to reflect the target size. In further aspects, the queue data sets may be collected over time intervals that are dynamically modified based on message traffic.