A method of controlling a reverse link data rate, A method of controlling reverse link data rate in a mobile communication system supporting hybrid automatic retransmission request (HARQ) transmission is provided, by which a single grant message is transmitted via a forward grant channel to control a reverse link data rate of a plurality of subchannels of a reverse packet data channel. The method includes steps of generating rate control information for determining a data rate for transmission by a mobile station via a reverse traffic channel; and transmitting to the mobile station a message including the generated rate control information and subchannel information, the message corresponding to a series of subchannel transmissions to which the determined data rate will be applied.