A wireless telecommunications network includes a mobile switching center (MSC) that controls a plurality of base stations. Each base station defines one or more wireless coverage areas, which may be termed "cells" or "sectors." Associated with each of these wireless coverage areas is a "neighbor list" that lists a number of other wireless coverage areas to which handoffs are preferably made. The MSC has access to a database of handoff statistics and to a database of neighbor lists for the wireless coverage areas that it controls. The handoff statistics provide an indication of the frequencies at which handoffs have occurred between the various wireless coverage areas. To tune a neighbor list for a given wireless coverage area, the other wireless coverage areas are ranked based on the frequency of handoffs involving that wireless coverage area and the given wireless coverage area, as reflected in the handoff statistics. The wireless coverage areas with the highest handoff frequencies are added to the neighbor list for the given wireless coverage area. In preferred embodiments, the wireless coverage areas in a neighbor list may be further categorized into a first priority set, a second priority set, and a third priority set, based on their handoff frequencies.