Aspects of optimized grooming of multiplexers of a communication network are presented. In an example method, information indicating a current multiplexer configuration is accessed, in which the current multiplexer configuration indicates a current assignment of each of a plurality of data channels to one of a plurality of inputs of a plurality of multiplexers of a communication network. An optimization value associated with each of a plurality of multiplexer configurations is determined based on the current assignment, wherein each of the plurality of multiplexer configurations includes a proposed assignment of each of the plurality of data channels to one of the plurality of inputs. A multiplexer configuration having a highest-ranked optimization value of the plurality of multiplexer configurations is identified from the plurality of multiplexer configurations.