I know that the census in Rome and the italian peninsula was taken by the censors, but how were the non roman subjects
counted?
We know that the story of Mary and Joseph moving to Nazareth didnt take place this way, but how exactly would a census in Judaea or Gallia have looked like?
Census in the Roman Republic/Empire was a little different than today. At least from what I know about the republican era, the census was taken to see how much money you make for the sake of economic division during elections. I'm not sure if the same was true in the Empire, but that might give a hint as to what it was viewed as in that time.