Massachusetts is the state with the highest child care costs in the country, according to new data from the North Carolina law office DeMayo Law.

The new data highlights which states have some of the highest and lowest child care costs nationwide, and how much of Americans' income in those states is contributed to center-based care.

The affordability of child care is a growing issue confronting Americans, and can be a factor that causes some to push back having children.

Child care is considered affordable if it costs no more than 7 percent of a household's income, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but many families pay far more than this benchmark, as the DeMayo Law data shows.

The costs for looking after a child are also increasing rapidly in the country, as data from the U.S. Department of Labor showed that U.S. families typically spent between 8.9 and 16 percent of their household income for the care of one child, while the DeMayo Law findings found in some states, child care costs can be around double that range.

As shown in the map above, Massachusetts, New York and Nevada ranked as the top three states for having the nation's highest child care costs, based on the DeMayo Law rankings.

The average annual cost for child care in Massachusetts is $18,380, while the median annual income is $60,690, and infants in Massachusetts cost the most in the country with parents paying an average of $23,191 annually, which is 38.21 percent of the state's median income.

The average percentage of income spent on center-based child care in the state was therefore 30.29 percent, while in New York it was 30.12 percent and 29.25 percent in Nevada.

Other states with high child care costs included Hawaii, Minnesota, California, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Vermont, and Oregon.

Mississippi was the most affordable state—with families spending just 12.36 percent of their income on average for center-based care. Kansas (16.03 percent), South Dakota (16.29 percent), Kentucky (16.95 percent), and Arkansas (17.16 percent) also offer comparatively lower child care costs.