In cellular wireless networks, location management is an important mechanism that enables network to discover the current attachment point of a mobile so as to facilitate successful information delivery. Although the design of optimal location management has been studied extensively for GSM, it is surprising that little, or possibly no, attention has been given to the consideration of location management design for General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), given that it is fast becoming a de facto system. Unlike GSM, the tracking of mobiles (MS) in the GPRS is made through routing area (RA) and location area (LA). For the first time, the mode of operation of MS, mobility management of MS and the network operation mode are considered as part of the proposed location management design model. The objective of the paper is to study in detail the impacts of the various varying parameters have on the performance of location management in GPRS. Two schemes, namely, greedy algorithm and optimal algorithm, are proposed and the mathematical models are developed in this paper. Comparative studies of the two schemes are carried out and discussed.