Systems and methods of providing Basis Service Set (BSS) load information pertinent to multi-user (MU) communications in WLAN systems. An access point (AP) can determine the counts of MU-capable user stations (STAs) active STAs in a BSS. Each MU-capable STA is configured for Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO) communications and/or Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communications. The AP can further determine ratios of PPDU time over an observation period of MU uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) communications, respectively. The AP can further determine an underutilization level of each available frequency subband, the underutilization level integrating the actual underutilization in terms of both spatial streams and frequency subbands. The DL and UL underutilization levels can be separately determined and reported. The MU BSS load information can be included in a beacon frame as a BSS load information element and distributed to user STAs periodically.