diff --git a/cmn/cos/node_state.go b/cmn/cos/node_state.go
index ed5fde87bd..4fe8676da4 100644
--- a/cmn/cos/node_state.go
+++ b/cmn/cos/node_state.go
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ const (
 	Resilvering                                      // warning
 	ResilverInterrupted                              // warning
 	NodeRestarted                                    // warning (powercycle, crash)
-	OOS                                              // red alert (see IsRed below)
-	OOM                                              // red alert
+	OOS                                              // out of space; red alert (see IsRed below)
+	OOM                                              // out of memory; red alert
 	MaintenanceMode                                  // warning
 	LowCapacity                                      // (used > high); warning: OOS possible soon..
 	LowMemory                                        // ditto OOM
@@ -36,12 +36,14 @@ const (
 	CertificateExpired                               // red --/--
 	CertificateInvalid                               // red --/--
 	KeepAliveErrors                                  // warning (new keep-alive errors during the last 5m)
+	OOCPU                                            // out of CPU; red
+	LowCPU                                           // warning
 )
 
 func (f NodeStateFlags) IsOK() bool { return f == NodeStarted|ClusterStarted }
 
 func (f NodeStateFlags) IsRed() bool {
-	return f.IsSet(OOS) || f.IsSet(OOM) || f.IsSet(DiskFault) || f.IsSet(NoMountpaths) || f.IsSet(NumGoroutines) ||
+	return f.IsSet(OOS) || f.IsSet(OOM) || f.IsSet(OOCPU) || f.IsSet(DiskFault) || f.IsSet(NoMountpaths) || f.IsSet(NumGoroutines) ||
 		f.IsSet(CertificateExpired)
 }
 
@@ -49,7 +51,7 @@ func (f NodeStateFlags) IsWarn() bool {
 	return f.IsSet(Rebalancing) || f.IsSet(RebalanceInterrupted) ||
 		f.IsSet(Resilvering) || f.IsSet(ResilverInterrupted) ||
 		f.IsSet(NodeRestarted) || f.IsSet(MaintenanceMode) ||
-		f.IsSet(LowCapacity) || f.IsSet(LowMemory) ||
+		f.IsSet(LowCapacity) || f.IsSet(LowMemory) || f.IsSet(LowCPU) ||
 		f.IsSet(CertWillSoonExpire)
 }
 
@@ -68,7 +70,7 @@ func (f NodeStateFlags) String() string {
 		return "ok"
 	}
 
-	var sb []string
+	sb := make([]string, 0, 4)
 	if f&VoteInProgress == VoteInProgress {
 		sb = append(sb, "vote-in-progress")
 	}
@@ -133,6 +135,12 @@ func (f NodeStateFlags) String() string {
 	if f&KeepAliveErrors == KeepAliveErrors {
 		sb = append(sb, "keep-alive-errors")
 	}
+	if f&OOCPU == OOCPU {
+		sb = append(sb, "out-of-cpu")
+	}
+	if f&LowCPU == LowCPU {
+		sb = append(sb, "low-cpu")
+	}
 
 	l := len(sb)
 	switch l {
diff --git a/stats/common.go b/stats/common.go
index 33afe79936..a8283a266c 100644
--- a/stats/common.go
+++ b/stats/common.go
@@ -482,33 +482,85 @@ waitStartup:
 
 func (r *runner) StartedUp() bool { return r.startedUp.Load() }
 
-// - check OOM, and
+// - check OOM and OOCPU
 // - set NodeStateFlags with both capacity and memory flags
-func (r *runner) _mem(mm *memsys.MMSA, set, clr cos.NodeStateFlags) {
+func (r *runner) _memload(mm *memsys.MMSA, set, clr cos.NodeStateFlags) {
 	_ = r.mem.Get()
 	pressure := mm.Pressure(&r.mem)
 
 	flags := r.nodeStateFlags() // current/old
+
+	// memory, first
 	switch {
 	case pressure >= memsys.PressureExtreme:
 		if !flags.IsSet(cos.OOM) {
 			set |= cos.OOM
+			clr |= cos.LowMemory
 			nlog.Errorln(mm.Str(&r.mem))
 		}
 		oom.FreeToOS(true)
 	case pressure >= memsys.PressureHigh:
-		set |= cos.LowMemory
 		clr |= cos.OOM
 		if !flags.IsSet(cos.LowMemory) {
+			set |= cos.LowMemory
 			nlog.Warningln(mm.Str(&r.mem))
 		}
 	default:
-		clr |= cos.OOM | cos.LowMemory
 		if flags.IsSet(cos.LowMemory | cos.OOM) {
+			clr |= cos.OOM | cos.LowMemory
 			nlog.Infoln(mm.Name, "back to normal")
 		}
 	}
-	r.SetClrFlag(NodeAlerts, set, clr)
+
+	// load, second
+	nset, nclr := _load(flags, set, clr)
+
+	r.SetClrFlag(NodeAlerts, nset, nclr)
+}
+
+// CPU utilization, load average
+// - notice hardcoded watermarks: (80%, 70%, 50%); TODO config
+// - compare with `fs.ThrottlePct`
+func _load(flags, set, clr cos.NodeStateFlags) (cos.NodeStateFlags, cos.NodeStateFlags) {
+	const tag = "CPU utilization:"
+	var (
+		load = sys.MaxLoad()
+		cpus = runtime.NumCPU()
+	)
+	// ok
+	if load < float64(cpus>>1) { // 50%
+		if flags.IsSet(cos.LowCPU | cos.OOCPU) {
+			clr |= cos.OOCPU | cos.LowCPU
+			nlog.Infoln(tag, "back to normal")
+		}
+		return set, clr
+	}
+	// extreme
+	var (
+		fcpus = float64(cpus)
+		oocpu = max(fcpus*0.8, 1) // 80%
+	)
+	if load >= oocpu {
+		if !flags.IsSet(cos.OOCPU) {
+			set |= cos.OOCPU
+			clr |= cos.LowCPU
+			nlog.Errorln(tag, "extremely high [", load, cpus, "]")
+		}
+		return set, clr
+	}
+	// high
+	highcpu := fcpus * 0.7 // 70%
+	if load >= highcpu {
+		clr |= cos.OOCPU
+		if !flags.IsSet(cos.LowCPU) {
+			set |= cos.LowCPU
+			nlog.Warningln(tag, "high [", load, cpus, "]")
+		}
+	}
+
+	// (50%, 70%) is, effectively, hysteresis interval
+
+	return set, clr
 }
 
 func (r *runner) GetStats() *Node {
diff --git a/stats/proxy_stats.go b/stats/proxy_stats.go
index 9b5a17e5e0..fd2b127d02 100644
--- a/stats/proxy_stats.go
+++ b/stats/proxy_stats.go
@@ -83,7 +83,8 @@ func (r *Prunner) log(now int64, uptime time.Duration, config *cmn.Config) {
 		r._next(config, now)
 	}
 
-	r._mem(r.node.PageMM(), 0, 0)
+	// memory and CPU alerts
+	r._memload(r.node.PageMM(), 0, 0)
 }
 
 func (r *Prunner) statsTime(newval time.Duration) {
diff --git a/stats/target_stats.go b/stats/target_stats.go
index 00ac0a2562..8915cbc6d7 100644
--- a/stats/target_stats.go
+++ b/stats/target_stats.go
@@ -632,8 +632,8 @@ func (r *Trunner) log(now int64, uptime time.Duration, config *cmn.Config) {
 		clr |= cos.NodeRestarted
 	}
 
-	// 7. separately, memory w/ set/clr flags cumulative
-	r._mem(r.t.PageMM(), set, clr)
+	// 7. separately, memory and CPU alerts
+	r._memload(r.t.PageMM(), set, clr)
 }
 
 func (r *Trunner) _cap(config *cmn.Config, now int64, verbose bool) (set, clr cos.NodeStateFlags) {