Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described for radio frequency (RF) exposure limit compliance using uplink duty cycling. A user equipment (UE) may transmit a buffer status report (BSR) that indicates an amount of data that is to be transmitted by the UE, where lower priority data reported in the BSR may be throttled in order to reduce an amount of uplink resources associated with the lower priority data and thereby adjust an uplink duty cycle of the UE. The reduced uplink duty cycle may provide for additional transmit power that is available for higher priority data transmissions.