Autonomous power adaptation in a heterogeneous cellular environment is disclosed. In some embodiments, autonomous power adaptation for a first small area cellular device in a heterogeneous cellular environment includes collecting received signal strength information for one or more neighboring large area cellular devices and one or more neighboring small area cellular devices; and determining a maximum transmit power for the first small area cellular device that minimizes interference with the one or more neighboring large area cellular devices and the one or more small area cellular devices, in which determining the maximum transmit power for the first small area cellular device that minimizes interference with the one or more neighboring large area cellular devices and the one or more small area cellular devices includes prioritizing the one or more neighboring large area cellular devices over the one or more neighboring small area cellular devices.