A 2015 ranking released by research site Niche.com names Rollingwood as the top suburban and top community in the Austin area as well as in Texas, and the third best community in the U.S. “Rollingwood scores very highly in Local Schools, resident education levels and community engagement,” said Mark Tressler, Niche.com vice president of product development. The Western Travis County cities of Bee Cave (fourth in Texas, second in Austin) and Lakeway (fifth in Texas and third in Austin) also made the state and local lists. The company does not visit a city before ranking it, Tressler said. “Our approach is to use statistical data to objectively compare places at a national level and then filter down to geographic regions,” he said. “We then supplement those objective statistics with resident reviews about the local school district.” Tressler said Niche.com’s Best Suburbs rankings compare 3,250 suburbs throughout the U.S. The Best Suburbs ranking includes various graded factors and subfactors, with Things to Do, Commute, and Local Schools making up the largest factors. The Best Community ranking is composed of 15 percent each allocated to crime, local schools and residents’ education level; 10 percent each to income inequality, health and diversity; and 5 percent each to five factors related to family and community engagement.