Tilton is a village in Danville Township, Vermilion County, Illinois, United States. It is part of the Danville, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,976 at the 2000 census, down to 2,724 in 2010 and down to 2,660 in 2020. It is named after Charles Tilton, a friend of Abraham Lincoln, who worked for the railroads. Lincoln reputedly had Thanksgiving dinner at Tilton's house in the village in the 1850s.