Systems and methods for assigning BSS colors in a deployed wireless area network (WLAN) include identifying a plurality of APs of an external wireless network operating on a same channel as a deployed AP of a deployed wireless network; selecting as a subset of the plurality of APs of the external wireless network those APs of the external wireless network based on expected interference; grouping the APs of the subset of the plurality of APs by a basic service set (BSS) color used by each of the plurality of identified APs of the external wireless network to form AP BSS color groups; calculating an airtime utilization for each AP color group; and selecting a BSS color using the calculated airtime utilization and assigning the selected BSS color for use by the deployed AP of the deployed wireless network.